Daniil Medvedev reveals his most underrated skill and gets shy after Jannik Sinner compliment

Shahida Jacobs
Daniil Medvedev in action
Daniil Medvedev plays a shot

Daniil Medvedev believes his attacking prowess is one of the most underrated features of his game, saying he is “pretty aggressive” on his own serve.

The 2021 US Open winner is known for his ability to defend well from the back of the court as he is an incredible mover while his serve is also one of his big weapons.

However, Medvedev has not won 19 ATP Tour singles trophies by being a purely defensive player and after his latest title win at the Miami Open he was asked to talk about an area of his game that is underrated.

“I would say in a way my attacking skills, because I know that I’m good in defense, and especially on the return games, I can be sometimes defensive and there are some points I win kind of by just putting the ball back and making the opponents miss, but on my serve I feel like I’m pretty aggressive all the time,” the 27-year-old said.

“And on the opponent’s serve, sometimes when I see my good matches, if I make a good return, then from the position I’m at, I’m really fast to go forward and maybe attack the next one.

“So I think, yeah, this could be a little bit underrated in my game, the attacking skills I have.”

The world No 4 has been one of the players on the ATP Tour so far in 2023 as besides the Miami title, he won the Rotterdam Open, Qatar Open and Dubai Tennis Championships while he also finished runner-up at the Indian Wells Open.

On Sunday he defeated Jannik Sinner 7-5, 6-3 to secure his fifth ATP Masters 1000 title.

When it was put to Medvedev that Jannik feels he is the player he has the most trouble with, he replied: “This makes me shy, I would say, because that’s a compliment, I guess (smiling).”

The former world No 1 then gave a detailed explanation of why Sinner might struggle against him.

He added: “Somehow my shots don’t let him, and I don’t do it on purpose, it’s not like before the match I’m like, Okay, I’m going to do exactly this shot to put him in trouble, but I can see throughout all the matches that we played that my shots don’t let him completely, what’s the word, like expose his game, which is hitting winners all over the place.

“Like the match against Carlos [Alcaraz], the match against [Andrey] Rublev, [Emil] Ruusuvuori, he was just blasting the ball past his opponents, doing unbelievable winners. Somehow my ball doesn’t let him do it, or maybe I’m reading his game a little bit better, so I’m pushing him more to the error.

“I feel like already this year he’s stepping up, stepping up, so he starts to miss less and less. The match in Rotterdam was a brutal one. I mean, today the first set he had the first break.

“He’s getting definitely closer and closer, but I hope I can continue bringing him this trouble because I’m sure I’m going to see him in the later stages of the tournament if I manage to play well.”

READ MORE: Can Daniil Medvedev finally hit his straps on clay and fall in love with the red dirt?

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