March 15, Daniil Medvedev officially became the second racket of the world. This achievement results from his performances over the past two years and the rating freezing, which allowed these results to add up.
Now on Medvedev’s balance, there are 9940 points. 5400 of them he won back in 2019, 2590 added in 2020, and another 1950 – in this.
Daniil displaced Rafael Nadal from the second line of the rating. Hence, his success in the top 2 wasn’t only an event for him, but also the entire round – for the first time since July 24, 2005, someone except Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, and Murray got into the top two. Medvedev did what even the three-time Grand Slam champion Stanislas Wawrinka couldn’t.
How did he succeed? Let’s see.
Final of the tournament in Marseille: Medvedev vs. Pierre-Hugues Herbert
Three days ago, one of the tournaments of the ATP 250 series ended, which was held from March 8 to 14 in Marseille, France. 28 participants fought on the indoor hard courts of the tournament, the prize fund of which amounted to more than 300 thousand Euros. Two participants managed to reach the final – Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev and Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert. What was the outcome of the match, and how did it affect both athletes?
As already known, the third-world racket at the time, Daniil Medvedev, beat the opponent in the tournament final 6:4, 6:7, 6:4. He led in personal meetings of the level of the main round – 2:1.
Thus, the Russian No. 1 won his 10th ATP title. Moreover, everything is on the hard courts. Also, a native of Moscow for the second time beat the Frenchman in the ATP-level tournament main draw, held in France. There were nine defeats.
This year Medvedev won 14 of 16 matches. On March 15, he officially entered the top 2 rankings. It became known even before the start of the tournament in Marseille.
Medvedev:
“After Rotterdam, I was upset I would become No. 2 without a good result. But now I feel it’s deserved “
After the end of the final match, Daniil Medvedev gave a short interview in which he commented on his victory over the French tennis player. He shared his impressions of the game and said he had a chance to secure the second line at Rotterdam’s tournament if he reached the final. However, this didn’t happen since Medvedev lost in the first round.
“A taut match. I had many opportunities in the first set, and the second turned out to be very stubborn. I had one breakpoint in the first game, but then he played the whole set better than me. At the tie-break, I was close to getting an advantage, but he had some great rallies.”
The Russian admitted the match was very stubborn. In his opinion, everything was decided in the last game, when Daniil was a little lucky with returns, and his opponent clamped a little. But this is tennis, and such moments can often become decisive.
“During the tournament, I didn’t want to think I would become No. 2 because the tournament was more important. I had a chance to secure the second line in Rotterdam if I reached the final. So I was upset I would be number 2 without a good result. But in Marseille, I had another chance, and now I feel it’s deserved.”
Besides, the Russian told how much the balls and surface in Marseille differed from those in Rotterdam and caused sharp criticism. Daniil believes a victory here in Marseille proved to everyone that it wasn’t about Rotterdam’s balls but about him. It was just he felt like a fish out of water.
“The balls here were precisely the same. But the surface in Marseille was a little different. Although I like the surface in Rotterdam, and I definitely lost there not because of it. As a result, I proved to everyone, first of all to myself, that in Rotterdam, it wasn’t about balls, but about me. It’s just I felt uncomfortable.”
When asked whether it was a surprise for the tennis player that Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and not the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who won this tournament twice in a row, was his opponent in the Marseille final, he answered the following. Medvedev admitted they had known Pierre-Hugues for a long time and played in Marseille six years ago in qualification. The Russian then stood in the middle of the seventh hundred, and his opponent was approaching the top 100, was the strongest player with whom he had a chance to meet at that time, and efficiently beat him.
“Herbert is capable of playing crazy tennis. He has a great serve, after which he often runs to the net and plays the rally very coolly. Naturally, this causes a lot of problems. His amazing quarter-final against Tsitsipas I happened to observe. Naturally, Tsitsipas wanted to win here for the third time in a row, but we love tennis because something changes in it all the time.”
The Russian number one was also asked how he estimates chances to lead the world classification since Daniil already led the race for the first racket of the world Novak Djokovic. Moreover, until the autumn, he needs to defend much fewer rating points than the Serb.
“It’s always hard to assess the chances. You can only work in training and try to win every tournament, even if it’s unrealistic. I really have almost nothing to protect on the clay. Over the past two years in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, I have had good results, which have partially been taken into account so far. But at the Masters in Madrid and Rome and Roland Garros, I didn’t receive anything. So there are opportunities. I will try to show good results and, naturally, hope to get to the first position someday.”
Medvedev swore at the court? His comment on the umpire’s decision at a tournament where there is no Hawk-Eye
Despite the victory, which allowed Medvedev to become number two globally, he was highly dissatisfied with the refereeing decisions in the final in Marseille. What happened, and who was still wrong: the umpire or the Russian number one?
It should be noted straight away; there is no Hawk-Eye system at the tournament. More often, Medvedev’s attention was attracted by decisions on Herbert’s serve.
For example, with a score of 1:0 in the third set, Medvedev told Umpire Fergus Murphy in English:
“The ball couldn’t get.”
Then he added in Russian:
“# # # # #, it’s impossible to play. Are you stupid?”
With the score 4:3, 30:30, he again spoke about a possible outing on the Frenchman’s serve:
“How could you not see?”
Not the best behavior on the court. However, at the award ceremony at the end of the speech, Medvedev addressed Murphy:
“Fergus, on the court, I can be an evil guy. Congratulations on your excellent work this week.”
After that, Daniil has already spoken out about his own victory in the tournament. We recall this title at the ATP series tournaments was the 10th in Medvedev’s career.
“I’m very happy for the tenth title. Now the number is double-digit – I dreamed about this in childhood. I think this is already a great result, but I will try to work harder and win more. I really like playing on the hard courts. In my opinion, it suits my game best. I think I know what answers I needed to find in the match, and today I found them.”
Medvedev is the second of the world: for the first time since 2005, someone was in the top two except the Big Three players
The other day, the ATP rating was updated. Due to the coronavirus pandemic and stop of the tour, the points writing off is now partially carried out.
Just after the update, Daniil Medvedev became the second racket of the world. Earlier, only Evgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin rose so high from Russian players – they were both No. 1.
25-year-old Daniil Medvedev also commented on the future of men’s tennis. He admitted it’s very unpleasant to hear numerous comments that the new generation won’t achieve the results shown simultaneously, for example, the Big Three players – Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal.
“It’s very unpleasant when people downplay a new generation.
They say:
“After the Big Three, no one will be left.” But what happened before? No one has had Big Three records before. And we try to win tournaments, make every effort.”
Andrei Rublev:
“I forgot to congratulate him, but I still in Australia told him he was doing incredible things”
Russian number two, Andrei Rublev, joined the rest’s congratulations and commented on the latest successes of Daniil Medvedev: getting to the second position of the rating and winning the tournament in Marseille.
“To be honest, I forgot to congratulate him after Marcel. But he knows about everything because even during the Australian series, I told him he does incredible things. I really respect Daniil very much as an athlete.”
Conclusion
Even though many call Medvedev an “octopus,” since they believe his movements are often incomprehensible and immodest, he managed to achieve the results we see. It was also not without the support of his team, friends, and wife, who believed in him when the athlete wasn’t even in the first hundred. We can only congratulate Daniil on such incredible successes and wish in no case to stop there.