It once seemed as if Daniil Medvedev was going to be the one player with the mental fortitude and talent to end the dominance of the ‘Big Three’ in men’s tennis.
As he heads into the US Open this year, however, uncertainty lingers over his ability to rise to the challenge in a landscape dominated by Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, with the rest of the tour playing a distant second fiddle.
Since lifting his last trophy at the 2023 Italian Open, he has wandered through six more finals without reward. The most recent, an often flat defeat in Halle this year, has only deepened the sense of a champion stranded between past glory and present doubt.
There is little solace in his Grand Slam record this year: a second-round exit in Australia, followed by early departures at the French Open and Wimbledon. The jarring thing about each loss was that his once-metronomic backhand is being struck more in hope than with venom, as if Medvedev has lost the belief that he can wear down and frustrate his opponents into mistakes.
Tennis, however, allows a player to hit the reset button, and a strong run can come from nowhere. If Medvedev can tap into this, the home of his only Slam could become the place to rediscover the magic and energy that have long been shrouded in negativity.
It is something Medvedev discussed recently in an interview for the ATP website.
“For me it’s a matter of confidence. I feel like this year, I lost a lot of close calls. When I start winning them, I can [climb] up the rankings and everything.”
“I could find 10 reasons and I would not know which one is the main reason. “Whatever we do, we just try to improve. So we sat down with the team. Where can we do things better? What can we change? We discussed some things and I’m going to try and implement it.”
With his focus on confidence and behind-the-scenes changes, all the mercurial Russian now needs is to string together the wins required to reinforce the sense that he can return to Slam contention.
The first hurdle could stir recent bad memories as he faces Benjamin Bonzi in this year’s opening round at Flushing Meadows, the same Frenchman who ousted him in Wimbledon’s first round in four sets.
But this is what separates the good from the great: facing these mental scars and banishing them to the back of the mind. If Medvedev can trust in his ability and stand tall in the tough moments, perhaps we will see the best of him return before another Slam, and year, becomes a write-off.
