Daniil Medvedev thinks of Jannik Sinner: "I already know what he will do"
Daniil Medvedev will only be able to cross rackets with Jannik Sinner in the semifinals at Roland Garros, but he is already talking about the Blue on the eve of the Paris tournament in a press conference. The Russian tennis player has been the player who has come closest to beating him in recent months, and now he is seen as one of the few obstacles between the world number one and winning the first career Slam on clay.
“In a way, you already know what he’s going to do,” are the words of the Muscovite. “There is no formula against Jannik. You just have to, let’s say, hit the ball very well, preferably hard, run a lot and be ready for anything, because he is capable of making any shot.”
“There are no surprises, but he does it so well, so precisely, serves well, responds to everything, that it is very difficult to be able to maintain the same level all the time – Medvedev continued – . You just have to play his tennis and be better than him, and that is almost impossible. But on the other hand, if you can win one set, then you can win two, you just have to try.”
The Russian player in any case stressed that Roland Garros is not his favorite tournament: “I have never made it to the semifinals here. I face one match at a time. If you were in the semifinals and playing against Jannik and Carlos wasn’t on the other side, you would think, ‘Okay, maybe it’s a little easier to try to win the tournament.’ But right now we’re not at that point. I’ve lost six times in the first round at Roland Garros.”
Medvedev’s dangerousness on the Parisian red was also pointed out by Mats Wilander, who identified the Russian as one of the main pitfalls for Sinner: “In an evening session in Paris he can be tricky, because the court is a little bit slower and his shots have little effect, almost no effect. They are heavy balls, and that can put Sinner in trouble.” However, the Swede, when asked by Eurosport, broadened the discourse, arguing that the only real threat to the Blue is physical: if Sinner were to rack up more long, wearisome matches in extreme heat, the accumulated fatigue could prove to be the deciding factor against anyone on the other side of the net.
