ATP: Daniil Medvedev scared of Rafael Nadal...on clay
Daniil Medvedev, who is currently in top form, has enormous respect for a possible clay court encounter with Rafael Nadal .
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit:
Mar 12, 2023, 08:07 am
So if a player on the ATP tour is bursting with self-confidence, it's probably Daniil Medvedev. The Russian won three ATP tournaments in a row with Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai, putting a flawless hard court hat trick on the world tennis court. And at the current ATP Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells, the ex-world number one solved his opening task in the person of Brandon Nakashima (USA) with 6: 4, 6: 3 - i.e. with flying colours.
Medvedev, however, is geared towards a certain course like hardly any other player - apart from the classic sand court-digging Spaniards and South Americans, who in today's tennis times, however, can only rarely advance into rating regions like the man from Moscow. Neither the royal lawn at Wimbledon nor the European clay courts trigger great desires for the current sixth in the world rankings.
"Worst and best challenge at the same time"
At the second-round press conference in the California desert, the 2021 US Open champion revealed which tennis task would probably cause him the greatest panic: "I've never played against Rafa (Nadal, note) on sand. Rafa on clay is probably the worst and best challenge in tennis at the same time. And if I say "worst" because he felt like he lost ten games. I'm not even sure if it was ten at all."
"I'll be honest, I'm scared of playing Rafa on clay. Somehow I'd like to try and I would definitely fight to win. But going out to play Rafa on clay must be scary ." However, the East Slav added that a match against Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open would be similarly tough to win.