Daniil Medvedev makes his clay season predictions: Alcaraz, Zverev & Tsitsipas – but no Djokovic or Sinner

Ewan West 08 Apr 2025 12:45 PM

Daniil Medvedev attends a press conference

Daniil Medvedev has named the three different players that he thinks will win the clay-court Masters 1000 tournaments this year.

The first clay Masters tournament of the season is underway in Monte Carlo — and Medvedev is vying for his first ATP Tour title in almost two years.

The former world No 1 and 2021 US Open champion has not lifted a trophy since winning his only career clay-court title at the 2023 Italian Open.

After Monte Carlo, there will be Masters 1000 tournaments in Madrid and Rome before the clay season concludes with the French Open.

Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud are the leading contenders to win the titles in Monte Carlo and Madrid.

World No 1 Jannik Sinner is not playing in Monte Carlo and will also miss the Madrid Open due to his doping ban. The Italian will make his return to action on home soil in Rome.

In 2024, Tsitsipas won in Monte Carlo, Andrey Rublev triumphed in Madrid, and Zverev prevailed at the Italian Open.

In his pre-tournament interview, Medvedev was asked to predict the winners of the tournaments in Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome.

“Easy, I make the triple Masters and I finish it off with a Roland Garros cherry on the top (laughing),” the world No 11 said.

“No, I don’t know. I mean, I always don’t like these predictions because I always want to win, and I managed to win Rome one time.

“But if I don’t win, I would say, Monte Carlo… Is Carlos playing? I didn’t see him here yet. Where is he? But I would go with Carlos in Madrid, I think it suits his game well there, he can play well.

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“Rome… wonder how Jannik [Sinner] comes back, but let’s go for Zverev, he likes to win there. And Monte Carlo, Stefanos — he cannot lose here, Tsitsipas (smiles). I don’t know why he cannot lose, he won three out of four years, so just go with the easy ones.”

Medvedev also addressed how much attention he pays to the rankings and whether dropping outside of the top 10 is affecting him.

“Usually I don’t pay a lot, but here I’m ninth seed, I’m the first one after the byes, so I mean it’s a pity,” he said.

“But at the same time, sometimes can be good to play an extra match, rather than that when we have a bye and your opponent already played a match.

“If I play well, you get points, you get rankings. Rankings is up and down, I think Stefanos has 1,000 points to defend here, so let’s see how he does (laughs). Maybe I’m back in top 10. But look, I just need to do better than what I did, and then I’ll be back in top 10.”

Medvedev defeated Russian compatriot Karen Khachanov 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round in Monte Carlo on Monday. The world No 11 will face 39th-ranked Alexandre Muller in the second round.