Italian Open: Daniil Medvedev reveals ‘what he’s going to try to do’ against Jannik Sinner
Daniil Medvedev knows he will have to have a good day at the office if he is to stand any chance of beating Jannik Sinner at the Italian Open.
World No 1 Sinner is in the form of his life, especially at ATP Masters 1000 events, as he has set a new record for most consecutive wins at the level with his latest win over Andrey Rublev helping him to record a mind-boggling 32 Masters victories in a row, moving past Novak Djokovic’s old milestone.
The Italian’s run started on 29 October in the round of 32 at the 2025 Paris Masters and he was the last man standing at the tournament before continuing his streak with title runs at the Indian Wells Open, Miami Open, Monte Carlo Masters and Madrid Open while he has added another four wins so far in Rome.
Medvedev is one of the players who have been beaten by Sinner during those 32 matches as the former world No 1 suffered 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-4) defeat in the Indian Wells final in March.
The Russian, who has a 7-9 head-to-head record against Sinner, was asked about his upcoming semi-final match against Sinner and replied: “I need to think a lot about my tennis. I played Jannik in Indian Wells, of course it’s not a clay court, but I put up a good fight. Close in one set. Let’s put it this way. That’s what I’m going to try to do.
“Jannik is a great player, best in the world. It’s a great test to try to do my best.”
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Medvedev beat 20-year-old lucky loser Martin Landaluce 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 to reach the semi-final and he feels he should take a leaf or two from the Spaniard’s book when he faces the four-time Grand Slam winner for a place in the final.
When asked about his strategy for the match against the Italian, he said: “Very easy: to play like Martin played the first set, go full power and every ball on the line.
“It’s a small joke, but in a way to beat Jannik you need to play your best tennis, which we’re not crazy, I’m not going to touch the line on every shot.
“You need to have a good day so that your shots are working, your serve is working, you put him under pressure. It’s not easy to do this kind of stuff.
“Again, it’s tennis, it’s sports, everything is possible. He’s losing much less than he’s winning. As my friend Andrey [Rublev] said, he’s going to lose at some point. When I step on the court, I will try to make him lose the next match.”
Landaluce played some excellent drop shots in the semi-final and Medvedev knows if Sinner does the same he will be in trouble.
“If you don’t do it perfect, I’m there. If you do it like Martin did today, you can do it a lot, and it’s going to work a lot of times,” he said.
“Like any other shot, it bothers me if it’s too good and I cannot reach it. Then if it’s not good, I want to say, Do it more.
“Jannik, whatever he does, is usually good. I hope tomorrow he does some bad drop shots.”
