Daniil Medvedev might be forgiven for a bit of wishful pondering after he confirmed his standing as the present king of the onerous courts by successful the Miami Open on Monday (AEST).
“If it would be my choice there would be only hard courts,” he mentioned with a smile after beating Jannik Sinner in straight units within the Miami remaining.
The victory was Medvedev’s fourth of the onerous courtroom season and means he has now gained each onerous courtroom ATP Masters occasion excluding Indian Wells — the place he was crushed within the remaining by Carlos Alcaraz earlier this month.
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Of course, the performances in California and Miami have been in tournaments with out Novak Djokovic, the person who has gained 13 Grand Slam titles on onerous courts.
Medvedev additionally managed to keep away from a rematch with world primary Alcaraz in Miami, after the Spaniard misplaced an exhilarating semi-final to Sinner.
But there was a businesslike ease to Medvedev’s win on Sunday which got here after a tricky three-set battle previous compatriot Karen Khachanov within the semi-final.
Unfortunately although for the Russian, the tour now strikes on to clay after which grass, surfaces the place his document is much less spectacular.
Sinner joked that the change in surfaces wouldn’t favour Medvedev.
“Now clay season starts so let’s see how you do there,” the Italian teen quipped.
Medvedev says the essential distinction between surfaces for him is that on onerous he can nonetheless win video games when not enjoying nicely.
“I feel the best game on hard courts, even if I know that I can play well enough on grass and clay. On hard courts I feel the most fluid. And on hard courts I can play not my best tennis but still win the matches and that’s a big difference,” he advised reporters after his 7-5, 6-3 win over Sinner.
“I know that I can play well on clay. I beat Novak (Djokovic) once on clay. I actually beat (Stefanos) Tsitsipas and Novak in the same tournament once. That’s a pretty good achievement on clay,” he added, referring to the 2019 Monte Carlo Masters.
“But if on hard courts like here, I feel like many of the matches I didn’t play my best tennis, but I managed to win them in the tournament. Clay court is tougher for me.
“If I don’t play my best tennis, I can lose much easier. So hopefully I can be at my best on clay court season,” he mentioned.
Medvedev’s run of type means he’ll transfer as much as fourth within the ATP world rankings on Monday having been exterior the highest 10 as not too long ago as mid-February.
The Russian missed a big a part of the clay season final 12 months attributable to a hernia operation and so he has few factors to lose within the rankings calculations within the run-up to the French Open.
Source: www.news.com.au
