‘Cold’ Daniil Medvedev jokes that the birth of his daughter showed he can be ‘a sensitive person’

Tennis News

Shahida Jacobs
October 26, 2022

He describes himself as “a bit of a cold person in life”, but Daniil Medvedev showed plenty of emotions and his “sensitive” side also came to the fore when he became a father.

Medvedev joined the ATP’s growing fatherhood club on October 14 as he confirmed on social media that his wife Daria gave birth to a baby girl.

Not too many people knew that the couple were expecting as mum had been the word throughout the pregnancy.

Medvedev had been sidelined with a muscle strain since retiring from his Astana Open semi-final in early October so he had plenty of time to spend with his wife and newborn daughter.

He will return to action at the Vienna Open on Wednesday, but he was asked about adjusting to the new chapter in his life after touching down in Austria.

“There’s a lot of emotions that I am not able to feel,” he told ATPTour.com. “When I say I am not able to feel, I am not able to feel this [high] calibre because I am a quiet, a bit of a cold person in life and I felt so many good emotions where I was like ‘I’m a sensitive person. I can be a sensitive person’.

“A lot of fun and a lot of good feelings, but I am a competitor and I want to continue going to tournaments, trying to do my best, winning so I was practicing a lot before coming here. Nothing has changed, I still want to win.”

Besides Medvedev, 22-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal as well as tennis couple Gael Monfils and Elina Svitolina also became parents in October.

Nadal’s wife Mery Perello gave birth to a boy in Mallorca on October 8 while Svitolina and Monfils announced the arrival of their daughter on October 15.

Medvedev, who has won only one tournament this year – the Los Cabos Open in August, will take on Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first round in Vienna on Tuesday before he flies to Bercy for the Paris Masters.

A couple of wins in his next two tournaments should see him secure his place at the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin, but he also a lot of points to defend before the end of the year as he finished runner-up at the Paris Masters and ATP Finals last year.

Daniil Medvedev Lifestyle