Daniil Medvedev reveals Jannik Sinner target as he makes confession about losing to world No 1
Daniil Medvedev has admitted he “needs to find a way to beat Jannik Sinner again” after losing to the world No 1 “so many times in recent months.”
The 2021 US Open champion also revealed he has an idea of how to improve his game despite his frequent complaints about the tennis balls used on the ATP Tour.
Medvedev won his first six matches against Sinner, but he now trails 7-8 in the pair’s career head-to-head record after losing seven of the last eight encounters.
All eight of Medvedev’s defeats to Sinner have come since October 2023 — when he lost to the Italian for the first time in the final of the China Open.
Following his maiden win, Sinner beat Medvedev twice more last year before downing the Russian five times in 2024, including in the Australian Open final and the US Open quarter-finals.
Medvedev’s only win against Sinner since the 2023 Miami Open final came in the quarter-finals of this year’s Wimbledon Championships — during which the Italian struggled with physical issues.
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The world No 5 has not won a title since his 20th career tournament win at the 2023 Italian Open 18 months ago. The 28-year-old finished the 2024 season with a 46-21 (68.7%) record.
In an interview with Kommersant, Medvedev was asked if former world No 6 Gilles Simon will remain a member of his coaching team in 2025.
“Yes. This year has been tough. Because of the Olympics, there was less time for deep work in training, so it was difficult for Simon to make a big contribution to my preparation right away,” Medvedev explained.
“He tried to do it little by little, mainly at the Grand Slam tournaments, but you can’t change anything globally there. This year, Simon and I got to know each other better, we got to know each other well.
“Now we will try to do a thorough pre-season preparation together and see what comes of it. I won’t go into details, but I have an idea on how to improve my game with the balls I’m using now. It’s not a fact that it will work.
“But I need to try to find a way to beat Jannik Sinner again, to whom I’ve lost so many times in recent months.”
The former world No 1 also addressed what he does not want to take from 2024 into next season.
“It’s a tough question… Probably some lost matches. They often say that defeats teach you. Well, I’ve had a few defeats this year, after which I left the court and realised that I hadn’t learned anything,” Medvedev admitted.
“It was like that in the summer at the Montreal and Cincinnati Masters. It was hard to switch to hard immediately after playing on clay at the Olympics.
“And before the Parisian clay, there was the grass of Wimbledon. But I still don’t regret going to the Olympics at all. It was a good, necessary experience.”
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