Daniil Medvedev enters Wimbledon with a fresh burst of confidence following his run at the tournament 12 months ago. 

Having previously never gone beyond the fourth round, he battled through to the semi-finals before getting stopped in his tracks by Carlos Alcaraz, who went on to win the title. A formidable hardcourt player on the Tour, his success on other surfaces is smaller. Just one out of his 20 ATP titles was won on the grass.  

Medvedev began his latest campaign at The All England Club with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, win over America’s Aleksandar Kovacevic. He has won 230 matches since the start of 2020 which is more than any other player on the ATP Tour. The Russian appears to be in solid form but what did he learn about his from the tournament last year?

“I always felt kind of not bad, but sometimes you get Hurkacz or someone else, and it’s a big serve, and you can lose some tiebreaks,” Medvedev commented on his grasscourt game.
“Last year I managed to go step-by-step till the semifinals. Against Carlos, I had to do much better. I lost easy, to be honest.
“I think this for sure gives me confidence for this year knowing that I can take this step by step, then against the best players I need to be better. I’m ready to do it.”

One area Medvedev has been working on concerns his consistency during matches. During his pre-Wimbledon preparation, he only played two Tour-level matches in Halle, losing in the second round to China’s Zhang Zhizhen.

“When I come on grass the first week, my forehand, especially with my big swing, I would hit it too late. Not a good rhythm.” He explained.
“I was working a lot on everything, movement. Different muscle work, a lot of physical work. 
“A lot of serving for sure and a lot of repetition of just hitting the ball and trying to find the rhythm.”

The work seems to be paying off for the world No.5 judging by his latest match statistics. In his first round match, he won 79% of his first service points and hit nearly two times more winners than unforced errors (33 against 17).

Medvedev’s next challenge will be against Alexandre Müller, who is currently ranked 102nd in the world and is yet to win back-to-back matches at a major event.

Top seed Ben Shelton breezed past Australian Rinky Hijikata 6-4, 6-0 in his first grass court win of the season, and now faces Britain’s Paul Jubb who had an easy 6-0, 6-3 victory over Adam Walton.

American Shelton, who lost in the first round in Stuttgart and Queens in the last two weeks, showed clear signs of intent even in the first service game when his service speeds touched 144mph and included a second serve ace. In his return games he also surprised Hijikata by approaching the net off the return of serve – adopting the so-called “SABR” (Sneak Attack by Roger) tactic employed by legend Roger Federer towards the end of his career. 

“It was a really fun match today,” said Shelton on court after his win. “I’m happy to be back in Mallorca. I love playing here. I had a really tough first match here last year, losing 7-6 in the third, so I’m really happy to get my first win here. I’m really pleased with how I played today. I’m getting used to grass day by day.”

The key moment of the match came in the five-minute period when Hijikata held two breakpoints with the scores 3-2 and 15-40 in his favour in the first set, but Shelton produced the big serves when it mattered. And in the next game the 75^th ranked Hijikata faced breakpoints of his own and faltered when Shelton fired three consecutive fizzing forehands to take the lead. 

From thereon, Shelton gained confidence in all aspects of his game saving all six breakpoints against him and finishing with 24 winners and 13 aces, while Hijikata – who reached the quarters of Queens last week – looked lost and was blown away in the second set without getting a game on the board. 

In the quarter finals, he will play Paul Jubb from Britain who won the battle of the qualifiers against Adam Walton in just 55 minutes. Jubb has now played four matches to reach this stage and will give away a massive 275 ranking places in his upcoming showdown with Shelton, scheduled for last on court tomorrow.

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Jakub Mensik continued his remarkable run in Mallorca after winning a titanic battle with Italian veteran Fabio Fognini 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 where the first three games alone lasted over 40 minutes. Mensik defeated defending champion Christopher Eubanks in the previous round and now faces Chilean fourth seed Alejandro Tabilo who beat Alexander Shevchenko 6-3, 6-2 in 69 minutes.

Czechia’s 18-year-old sensation Jakub Mensik shocked American Christopher Eubanks 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the first round of the Mallorca Open – and goes on to face veteran Italian Fabio Fognini for a place in the quarter finals.

Mensik turned professional less than two years ago, and lost in the first round of qualifying in Halle last week. Yet eight days later in his second match ever on grass, he put out the 42^nd ranked Eubanks who won the tournament last year.

“For me it’s a good result,” said Mensik in his on-court interview. “Obviously after difficult weeks, I’m happy to compete again. Back on grass with a ‘W’, I’m happy and I will be pushing more for the next round.”

The youngster is already ranked well inside the top 100 at just 18 years, and possesses a power game including a huge forehand and serving speeds of up to 138mph. And yet amongst all that strength, perhaps the point of the match was his exquisite faded backhand drop volley off a Eubanks return to level the scores at one game all early in the second set – a jaw-dropping display of finesse to suggest that Mensik is going places, and fast. 

Elsewhere around the grounds today, sixth seed Gael Monfils continued his good form from yesterday when he beat Dominic Thiem, this time defeating Roberto Carbelles Baena from Spain in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 and now plays Roberto Bautista Agut, who battled past second seed Ugo Humbert 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a match lasting two and half hours. 

In other results:

(R16) Alex Michelsen beat Adrian Mannarino 7-6, 6-4
(R16) Sebastian Ofner beat Luciano Darderi 6-3, 7-5
(R32) Paul Jubb beat Maximilian Marterer
(R32) Adam Walton beat Yannick Hanfmann