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.
