Daniil Medvedev told he should have changed coaches ‘much earlier’ after disappointing 2025

Oli Dickson Jefford 25 Dec 2025 2:00 PM

Daniil Medvedev roars in celebration at the Shanghai Masters

Former world No 3 Nadia Petrova believes that Daniil Medvedev should have split with ex-coach Gilles Cervara “much earlier” amid his struggles with form in 2025.

Former world No 1 and US Open champion Medvedev struggled throughout large chunks of the past season, with the Russian failing to find his best tennis at several big tournaments.

After a stunning second-round exit to Learner Tien at the Australian Open in January, the 29-year-old then lost in the opening round of the French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open across the rest of the year.

Having finished inside the top 10 of the ATP Rankings every year since 2019, Medvedev finished 2025 ranked 13th in the world — his lowest year-end ranking since he finished 16th back in 2018.

As a result of his struggles with form, the Russian split with long-time coach Cervara in late August.

The split came less than a week after Medvedev’s third straight Grand Slam round-one exit at the US Open, the star losing a contentious five-set clash to Benjamin Bonzi — who also beat him at Wimbledon.

Frenchman Cervara guided Medvedev to the US Open title in 2021 and to the top of the world rankings in 2022, alongside reaching a further five major finals.

However, there can be no denying that the Russian’s form dropped in the latter stages of their partnership and, ahead of their split in August 2025, Medvedev had not won a tour-level title since the Italian Open in May 2023.

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Speaking to Championat, former WTA star Petrova claimed that Medvedev should have decided to part ways with Cervara sooner.

She said (translated from Russian): “He’s a great guy for being able to change teams. They had such a long history with Gilles Cervara.

“Perhaps Danill really didn’t want to rush things and was planning to see this 10-year cycle through to the end. Although he should have changed teams and coaches much earlier, during the very first stages of failure.

“But it was his decision. We saw at the end of the season that he started to show results with the new coaches. He began to gradually improve his game, and it benefited him.”

In the aftermath of splitting with Cervara, Medvedev hired former world No 7 and 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johasson as his new coach.

The partnership got off to a positive start, with Medvedev rediscovering some better form in the closing stages of the season.

He reached the semi-final of both the China Open and Shanghai Masters early on in his partnership with Johansson, before ending his two-year trophy drought at the Almaty Open.

And Petrova believes that Medvedev could start his 2026 strongly at the Australian Open, where he is a three-time finalist.

“Danill Medvedev plays well on Australian hard courts; we saw that when he reached the final,” she added.

“He feels quite comfortable there. If he gets off to a good start this season, believes in himself and his team, then he could have a good year ahead on a positive note.”

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