Daniil Medvedev won the US Open (2021) and reached the final of the Australian Open twice (2021 and 2022), but the Russian does not perform so well on clay. The former world number one talked about her desire to improve her game on this surface and explained that she has Maria Sharapova as an example.

Danylo Medvedev and his aversion to slag

Medvedev (6 ATP) never hid his dislike for clay, but the Russian tries his best to overcome this feeling and said that he draws inspiration from the career of Maria Sharapova, who found herself in a similar situation.

Sharapova hated playing on clay at the beginning of her career, but she became an excellent player on this surface and even triumphed at Roland Garros (in 2012 and 2014, after the final with Simona Halep). This is the only Grand Slam tournament where the Russian won twice.

“Yes, I can be inspired by Maria Sharapova’s course. And it’s true, I could never move well on dirt. I slide not before the shot, but after the shot, because I don’t know, maybe I’m afraid or something.

In Doha the court (not hard) was very slow, probably one of the slowest, next to Rotterdam, a few years ago. And my wife told me that my coach Gilles was watching me play and I was running all over the place, throwing forehands, returning shots, and he said, “Damn, if Daniil could move well on clay, I think he’d be unbeatable.”

Of course I’m trying to work on it. I’m sure I can be better on dirt, I just need a really good day or two. Sometimes on hard I can be gone for a few days and still win and then get back into the groove” – Daniil Medvedevcited by TennisUpToDate.

It took Daniil five attempts to reach the first round of Roland Garros: he was eliminated in the opening round in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. The Russian reached the quarterfinals in 2021 and stopped in the last eight in 2022.

During that time, Medvedev won 69 victories and 41 defeats on the ground.

• Daniil Medvedev won the Russian match and is the new ATP Dubai champion