Daniil Medvedev’s weakness has been exposed and players have ‘figured him out’ – former world No 5
Daniil Medvedev’s poor start to the 2025 tennis season continued as he was upset by qualifier Mattia Bellucci in the second round of the Rotterdam Open.
The 28-year-old struggled at the Australian Open as he required five sets to defeat world No 418 Kasidit Samrej in his opening match of the year at Melbourne Park.
His second encounter at the season-opening Grand Slam also went the distance and this time he lost as 19-year-old American qualifier Learner Tien, who was ranked at No 121 at the time, claimed the biggest win of his career.
Bellucci, currently No 92 in the ATP Tour’s official rankings, has something in common with Tien as they are both left-handers.
Former player-turned-commentator Jimmy Arias says Medvedev is not a fan of “playing lefties”, but feels there are other puzzles that his opponents are starting to solve.
“He doesn’t like playing lefties. I’m not sure if that’s what it is. I think players have finally figured out that you can’t hit through him,” the former world No 5 said on Tennis Channel.
“If you try to overpower him when he’s way back and defending, you’re not going to get it done. You have to open the court, you have got to bring him forward, you got to serve and volley, and players have finally started doing that.”
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Medvedev is now 5-4 against left-handed players in the last 52 weeks on the ATP Tour while his career record against southpaws stands at 38-22.
But the former world No 1 is clearly struggling overall as he is 3-6 at all tournaments since reaching the quarter-final of the Shanghai Masters last October.
His last title was at the 2023 Italian Open although he finished runner-up to Jannik Sinner at the 2024 Australian Open and lost the Indian Wells Masters final against Carlos Alcaraz a few months later.
In an attempt to arrest his slide, he recently parted company with Gilles Simon, who joined his set-up last year, but Gilles Cervara remains his head coach having joined in 2017.
Medvedev, the 2023 Rotterdam champion, is set to remain at No 7 in the ATP Rankings despite his latest defeat, but another couple of early defeats in Qatar, Dubai and Indian Wells could result in a slide down the rankings.
The younger generation is starting to dominate with the 28-year-old Medvedev the third oldest player in the top 25 with only Novak Djokovic (37) and Grigor Dimitrov (33) older.
