Inside Medvedev's preparation for Sinner showdown at Wimbledon
Daniil Medvedev is back in the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the second consecutive year. Ahead of the tournament, he played “a great practice set” with World No. 1 Jannik Sinner. But that was training.
On Tuesday, the former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings will be tasked with snapping a five-match losing streak against the star who currently holds top spot.
“Look, the funny thing is I lost five times. But if I remember right, four times were really close. Did I get unlucky or not?” Medvedev wondered. “Even Beijing, two tie-breaks. What was it? Vienna, quite a crazy match. Turin, still a close match. I feel like maybe he won it easier, the Australian Open, close match. Then Miami he won easy.
“I feel like I was not far, but great job from him to win it five times in a row. [This will be the] first time we play on grass, I’m definitely going to come up with something.”
As difficult as it is entering a clash knowing he has lost five straight against Sinner, Medvedev still leads the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series 6-5. Seven of those meetings have come since the start of 2023, which Medvedev’s head coach, Gilles Cervara, likes.
“It’s a good thing to have played Jannik so many times the last few months,” Cervara told ATPTour.com. “My feeling is the more times you lose against the same opponent, the more chances you have to beat him the next time.”
<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/07/08/21/50/sinner-wimbledon-2024-v-medvedev.jpg” style=”width:100%” alt=”Jannik Sinner hits a backhand at Wimbledon 2024.” />
Jannik Sinner has won five straight matches against Daniil Medvedev, but the players have never met on grass. Photo: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour
According to Cervara, time has allowed Sinner to continually improve since his breakthrough on the ATP Tour until now.
“He still has his amazing speed of the ball,” Cervara said of the 22-year-old. “But he controls the ball so, so well now. He looks like he can’t miss now at the speed he plays. Now he has a big first serve that he didn’t have one year and a half ago. And winning gives him more and more self-confidence.”
Medvedev more or less echoed the same sentiments. The fourth seed explained that Sinner “plays better”, but actually misses less.
“When Jannik came on Tour, straightaway everyone was a little bit, not shocked but like how strong he hits, how he can run fast and hit strong from every position of the court,” Medvedev said. “But he was missing a lot and hence, losing some matches. As soon as he stopped missing less, well, now it’s very tough to beat him for anyone. Not only for me. That’s why he’s No. 1 in the world.”
The challenge for Team Medvedev is to find a way to take down this new-and-improved version of Sinner. Cervara is now joined by former World No. 6 Gilles Simon, who was called “The Professor” during his time on the circuit. Earlier this year, Medvedev revealed that Cervara had given Simon a list of players in particular the Frenchman would help find tactics against. Medvedev confirmed Sunday that Sinner is on that list.
“It is always interesting to have an ex-top player’s feeling and vision to share with my coaching experience,” Cervara said. “We communicate together with Daniil.”
[ATP APP]How does the way the team prepares Medvedev change because he has played Sinner so many times lately?
“It changes and doesn’t change,” Cervara said. “You use the different matches to keep [tactics], to change [tactics] or to do better than the last times.”
One notable difference is that they have never played on grass. That could affect some details because speed and movement can be different, forcing adaptation according to Cervara.
Medvedev said: “Small details makes big difference in tennis. It’s definitely tougher to play him now than before. Again, as I said, the matches were close. I had my chances. I’ll try to use them better this time.”
At this year’s Australian Open, Medvedev played three five-setters en route to the final and produced ultra-aggressive tennis to start the final against Sinner. It worked for two sets before he ran out of legs and Sinner found solutions. Which tactic will he use this time?
“I’m going to try to see what I can do to play good, to surprise him, to make him in trouble,” Medvedev said. “He’s for sure going to do the same. Hopefully it’s going to be a good match. [I will] try my best to win.”
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