Deep-court Daniil Medvedev may tweak his game but don’t expect serve and volley

ATP Tour

James Richardson
March 23, 2023

Daniil Medvedev is still committed to dancing with the one that brought him even under tricky conditions for players who stay deep.

Medvedev is arguably the best ‘defensive’ player on the ATP Tour and he isn’t planning on making radical changes to his game.

Despite the slow court and heavy balls in use at Indian Wells, Medvedev was still able to battle into the final, where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz.

Medvedev has traditionally struggled on other surfaces because his game is suited to fast hard court play.

He has won just one event on grass and none at all on clay.

While the Miami Open court is not expected to be as slow and gritty as the surface in use at Indian Wells, the continued use of heavy, ‘fuzzy’ balls will pose a challenge for the in-form Russian.

Medvedev was blown off the court by Carlos Alcaraz’s allround game at Indian Wells but he says he is unlikely to make radical changes to his game should he meet the Spaniard again.

“It’s possible [that I may not play as deep] but I’m not sure if I would do it,” he said Wednesday when asked about his next hard-court meeting with Alcaraz.

“For sure if I lose two matches in a row staying back and [I get beaten] just as easy I have to definitely change something. But one match is not enough.”

Medvedev says that it can be challenging to change the way you are playing in the middle of a match even when things aren’t going well.

He says that he doesn’t know if he will have the same struggles against Alcaraz on a faster court.

“I’ll only have to wait for a match on faster hard courts to see if my court positioning will work when the ball is flying faster through the air and the opponent won’t have as much time to play serve and volley and play from the baseline,” he said.

“During the match there was a small time when I tried to play a little more aggressive and closer to the baseline. But on those one or two games he was serving bombs so that didn’t help me. And it’s not that easy to change things up during a match.”

Medvedev says that he is also not overthinking his excellent form.

“I managed to get back in the zone, which I didn’t really have for all of 2022, when I was less consistent,” he said.

“I would have some good matches or tournaments but out of nowhere I would have one bad match. I’ve managed to avoid that the past four weeks. I have no idea how I have done it, but I am really happy and want to continue.”

Daniil Medvedev