“I have no idea” – Medvedev not sure about severity of his injury yet

When Daniil Medvedev was told by the on-court physio that he could potentially make his injury worse by continuing to play during his 6-4 RET loss to Jiri Lehecka on Thursday at the Caja Magica, he found himself engaged in a mental battle. He wanted to continue – and to his credit, he tried – in his quarter-final against the Czech at the Madrid Open, but in the end he made a wise decision to pull the plug and seek more tests on the injury.

Medvedev said he felt the injury during a return game, when he felt his hip get blocked.

“It was a return when he served and volleyed and I don’t know if I felt it on the return or on the dropshot, but when I ran, I wanted to run faster and faster during the movement, and suddenly felt my hip, like, kind of blocked,” the fourth-ranked Russisan said. “I couldn’t sprint like when you strain a muscle or have a spasm, which is very tough to know which of the two.”

Medvedev consulted with doctors and went off court after five games, but without an MRI he couldn’t know the severity of his situation. Based on what he was told by the physio, he was left in limbo in his mind, not knowing how much danger he was in by playing on.

When I sprinted I felt pain

“So then working with the physio, I asked him if I could make it worse,” he said. “He said if it’s a tear, then yes. If it’s a spasm, no.

“I tried to go to play, and my mind was not letting me to go full, so at the end of the set, I was [thinking] if I want to continue, I just try to sprint to the net. If I don’t feel anything, I will try to go a little bit more full and see how it goes – when I sprinted I felt pain. So I was, like: no need to continue.”

At the moment it isn’t clear when Medvedev will be back on the court next. He’ll undergo tests and go from there.

Medvedev is defending 1000 points at Rome over the next two weeks, where he won the title last year.

“Now I cannot say more,” he said. “Hopefully for sure tomorrow or day after, because normally you need time, MRI, et cetera, to see what it is, and if it’s something five days, two weeks, I have no idea. So cannot tell you more.”

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