Daniil Medvedev was ‘hating life’ on clay weeks earlier than choosing up Rome title
Daniil Medvedev revealed that he didn’t wish to begin the clay season earlier than he ended up successful his first title on the floor. The world No 2 stunned even himself by lifting the Italian Open trophy on Sunday, weeks after saying he was “hating life” forward of the clay swing.
Despite being a Grand Slam champion and former world No 1, there was one factor that Medvedev thought he’d by no means obtain in his profession – successful a Masters 1000 on the clay. In earlier years, the 27-year-old shared his hatred for the floor and mentioned it was like being “in the dirt like a dog”.
That all modified forward of the Italian Open, as Medvedev got here in claiming he felt nice on clay regardless of dropping his quarter-final in Monte Carlo and the round-of-16 in Madrid. The third seed had by no means received a match in Rome and ended the match because the champion, choosing up his twentieth profession title and first on clay.
Although Medvedev had already began to benefit from the floor within the build-up to the Italian Open, he has now revealed that he was “hating life” forward of the clay season. “Tough to say,” he responded when requested if his sturdy begin to the season gave him confidence forward of the clay.
The world No 2 picked up 4 titles in Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai and Miami – the latter being the final match of the calendar earlier than shifting on to the clay. While the world No 2 thought that his earlier Masters finals helped him, he later went on to say that he was left in a “bad mood” simply by practising on the clay.
Medvedev continued: “For sure every time you play a big final, it’s an experience. It’s an experience for the next one. For example, both Miami and here, I felt like the start was so-so, then I managed to get into the match more and more and play better and better.”
Looking again to his first Masters ultimate on the 2019 Canadian Open, he added: “When I played my first one, it was against Rafa, I got destroyed. I started bad, as I kind of started these matches, then I was only playing worse and worse.
“The next one I managed to win against Goffin. It was a tight match from both of us. We knew it’s going to be first one for us. With experience, yeah, managed to do better in this moment, so maybe that helped. But then in general terms, after Miami, I was feeling confident, good.”
Despite being within the type of his life after successful his nineteenth profession title on the Miami Open, Medvedev didn’t wish to swap surfaces for the following few months. “When I came to practice on clay first few days, I was hating my life,” he confessed.
“I was coming back home. I was in a bad mood. I was like, I don’t want to do this again. I don’t want to go through this again.” But Medvedev now finds himself as a contender on the upcoming French Open the place he would be the second seed, having overtaken Novak Djokovic within the rankings along with his Italian Open win.