Medvedev refuses to scrub his hair as superstition retains Wimbledon run going

Daniil Medvedev refused to scrub his hair earlier than his second-round Wimbledon victory over Adrian Mannarino resulting from a superstition he began in 2022. The Russian was compelled to play on consecutive days resulting from delays within the Championships’ schedule attributable to rain.

Medvedev overcame Briton Arthur Fery within the first spherical in SW19 on Wednesday, earlier than defeating Mannarino 6-3 6-3 7-6 on Thursday. The world No 3 revealed afterwards that he has a really distinctive routine for such tight turnarounds.

Back in 2022, Medvedev misplaced the Halle Open closing towards Hubert Hurkacz the day after his semi-final. He mentioned he had ready for the ultimate as if it was a brand new match, separate from his semi-final.

Having been defeated by Hurkacz, Medvedev revealed he now treats a match performed the day after his earlier outing as if he’s returning to play the identical encounter. His routine contains not washing his hair.

“A couple of years ago I had this against Hurkacz and I lost and I had prepared, let’s call it, for a new match. I finished the match like a normal tournament and the next day I have to play again,” Medvedev mentioned in his on-court interview.

“This [routine] didn’t work out at all, so I changed it. I won’t do everything as if the [previous] match has finished, I didn’t even wash my hair! I said, ‘I will wash it after the next match’.

“It works! So I’m going to continue like this, if I have two matches [in successive days].”

Medvedev insisted in his post-match press convention that his type is bettering, believing he performed higher towards Mannarino than he did towards Fery. He admitted he was ‘nervous’ to play a day after his powerful encounter with the 20-year-old.