How wearables are key part of Medvedev’s quest for improvement
Daniil Medvedev stands 6’6”, but does not move like a player that tall. His court coverage helped him climb to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings in 2022.
A lot more goes into that than hard work. Gilles Cervara and the rest of Medvedev’s team drill down to every available detail using wearables to push the boundaries of how well they can prepare the 28-year-old for action.
“It all started in 2020 when we had the plan to improve Daniil’s preparation. One of our teammates came from other sports, especially rugby and soccer, so he had experience with GPS,” Cervara told ATPTour.com, referring to wearables. “He gave us the idea to use it for practice because at that time, we couldn’t use it in matches to have numbers of our different practices and then to compare with matches.
“For matches we didn’t have numbers from GPS, we couldn’t, but we created our own analysis to have numbers of the different movements. And then from those analyses, we put the GPS on during practices, during sets or matches in practice, to also have numbers to compare.”
The idea was to create what Cervara called a “worst-case scenario”. What would be the toughest situation Medvedev would face on court? In that scenario, how many times would he need to change direction? How many times would he need to sprint? At what speed?
“From that we created our own practices to push him to this same limit and it becomes a focus,” Cervara said. “We [know if we] work enough or we didn’t work enough to reach our goals. [We look at the] numbers we need to reach to reach the same [output] as a Grand Slam match.”
According to Cervara, the 2019 ATP Coach of the Year, it is not only about the physical side of performance, but everything that goes into thriving in an extended match.
“The worst-case scenario could be to play five hours or five hours and a half,” Cervara said. “That’s what he experienced against Nadal, against so many players. And during those matches we need to know how many sprints or changes of directions.”
Before wearables were available, Cervara took as long as 10 hours to make similar analyses of matches. Now it has become much easier for Cervara to learn about his player’s efforts and optimise practices to achieve peak performance.
“[We know] if we want him to be prepared for these kind of matches, then we need to do this, this and this during practices, so let’s create those practices,” Cervara said. “We created those practices and then after the practice, with the GPS, we could check if he made the amount of sprints and changes of direction he needs to do during the match.
“It is just to make sure, ‘Okay, when he’s going to be faced with a five-hour match against Sinner or before, Novak and Nadal, we need to be sure that he made it during practice, that he’s prepared for this’. And it is not only during preseason. It is during all the year, constantly.”
Without these innovations, Cervara said he would not truly be able to make measurements. The Frenchman said it would just be about feel. He added: “We need objective numbers”.
Now, wearables are nearly a daily part of Medvedev’s routine. Although the former No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings does not utilise them in matches — despite ATP rules allowing it — Cervara explained the importance of using them in practice.
“You’re able to say, ‘Okay, this practice we made this amount of shots, this amount of serves. We made this intensity or this number of sprints or this distance every day’,” Cervara said. “When you use it every day for five years, you almost know straightaway without GPS what it’s going to be.”
[ATP APP]ATP Chief Sporting Officer Ross Hutchins said: “As a Tour, we are committed to driving the sport forward through innovation. That’s why we introduced wearables, which were approved for in-competition use earlier this year. It’s crucial to provide players with the tools to aim to enhance their performance and prevent injury. We look forward to continuing to support them in gaining insight and maximising their careers.”
Cervara has made data from wearables key to his preparation because it allows him to know exactly what is going on with his player.
“It just gave me a clear vision of what we do every day, a clear vision of what Daniil can experience on court during matches,” Cervara said. “It gives you a clear vision, is more objective and it helps a lot. That’s the main thing. It helps a lot to create good practices to prepare the player for the reality of matches.”
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