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Medvedev on His Paris Victory: All the Small Details Matter


By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday November 8, 2020

Daniil Medvedev hit a ridiculously high level of tennis as he turned around his final with Alexander Zverev in Paris on Sunday. Down a set, with Zverev serving bombs and making over 80 percent of his first serves, the Russian relied on fortitude to stay in the match. But when he got his opportunities late in the second set, Medvedev clicked into high gear and trampled over Zverev to win eight of the final nine games.

Tennis Express

“It comes to something invisible, just your level of play,” he said after claiming his 8th ATP title and third at the Masters level. “As I say today, there were some points where Sascha could put me in trouble but I just know what to do and I know I cannot miss this point, otherwise I lose the match, and I made it.”

It hasn’t exactly been a bad year for Medvedev, but pundits were wondering what happened to the guy who reached nine ATP finals and claimed four titles while at one point reaching seven consecutive finals in 2019.

Even Medvedev himself said he was starting to get frustrated. After Sunday’s 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 victory Medvedev said in an interview with the ATP that he had recently complained to his wife that he wasn’t winning any titles and that his level had dropped.

Apparently there was nothing to worry about.

Asked what the difference was between the rest of the season and this week in Paris, Medvedev said it was just a case of his level.

“To be honest with you, it was just in the level of tennis,” he said, before going on to explain how difficult it has been to find his top tennis in 2020. “Again, you know, there were not that many tournaments this year. Start of the year was not easy. First time in London last year. Not the preseason you're usually used to. Usually I had like eight weeks preseason where you can get tired of tennis but at the same time you come out like a physical monster and you know everything you need to do here. It was like three weeks. I went to Saudi Arabia for one week. Had not that long preseason. Tough ATP Cup where I played really good.

"All the small details, they matter.”

Those small details also made Zverev’s life difficult.

“Once you get a little bit tight against him, he wears you down,” the German said. “He wears you down even more. He makes you run, he makes you move. He wears you down a lot as well. He plays very flat. It's very long rallies all the time. Against Daniil you don't really have free points. So that was a bit difficult, but, you know, credits to him. He's a great player.”

Medvedev knows that when he plays this well he can be a true terror to face.

“I think it's not easy for guys to play against me when I play like this. Today was a really tight match,” he said. “I managed to stay really strong, be there all the time. I got four breakpoints at 1-all in second, and putting pressure at him all the time, raising my level step by step, and finally he broke, which is definitely good from me.”

Next stop for the Russian will be the ATP Finals (Draw Thursday Nov.12, starts Sunday Nov 15) where he will compete for the second consecutive season. Last year Medvedev was running on fumes and lost all three of his matches, including a heartbreaking defeat to Rafael Nadal in which he lead 5-1 in the third set and even held a match point.

“For sure coming better shape than last year,” Medvedev said. “Last year I was real exhausted, lost first round in Paris. That's when you lose your confidence. When you lose first round you always lose your confidence.”

This time around, Medvedev will be in better shape physically, and he’ll also be confident, having found his form so brilliantly in Paris this week. It could be a great chance for the Russian to make his mark in the event’s last staging at London.

“Just won the tournament, going to have a few days off,” he said. “Come to London, practice good. Hopefully can get some wins there. No other goal than just to get some wins, because you play three top-8 players, top-10 players in the group. … That's the most important thing. No goal to really like win the tournament or anything. Just to win matches.”

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