Gilles Simon joins Medvedev’s team from Dubai onwards

Daniil Medvedev has invited Gilles Simon to join his technical staff

Gilles Simon at the 2023 Rolex Paris Masters ( JB Autissier / Panoramic)

February 22, 2024

Daniil Medvedev and Gilles Cervara have agreed to return for an eighth season together on the circuit. But as the French coach has previously indicated, he will be travelling a little less this year alongside the Australian Open finalist.

The man who will accompany Medvedev to tournaments when Cervara is unavailable is a former player who has long been thought of as a potential coach: Frenchman Gilles Simon, aged 39.

A former world No 6 back in 2009, Simon hung up his racquets in 2022 and has already started working with Medvedev. After the week’s break that the Russian gave himself after the Australian Open, Simon shared the court with Medvedev in sessions supervised as usual by Cervara and Eric Hernandez at the Mouratoglou Academy.

“It was interesting and enriching to see the game through different eyes,” Cervara told Tennis Majors.

According to our information, in addition to Dubai, there are already plans for Simon to join Medvedev in Madrid and at the Rolex Paris Masters this year. Cervara will be at Indian Wells and Miami as usual.

Consultant? Assistant coach? Co-trainer? Simon’s exact title in the technical environment built by Cervara since 2017 hasn’t been formally fixed, and Medvedev’s new training structure will fine-tune its operation over the coming weeks and months.

Medvedev training at the Mouratoglou Academy (Julien Nouet)

“Gilles Simon’s title doesn’t matter,” says Cervara. “What will count is the quality of our work, the harmony of our contributions, and the results. That’s what’s important.”

It was Medvedev himself who came up with the idea of enlisting Simon to add to his team at the end of last year. Medvedev remembered the Frenchman’s tactical intelligence, who wreaked havoc on the circuit until his 36th birthday.

“He is an addition to the team,” says Medvedev himself. “He is going to help us move forward, help us win titles, and help me become a better player.

“We see how it goes. So far it has been going good. Hopefully it is for a very long time but that depends on a lot of factors. We will see how much time he spends. For sure Gilles Cervara will be more time with me than Gilles Simon. That is how it works because that is how it was. We will see what the future brings as to how many weeks he will be with us.

“My expectations are that Gilles Simon is a very smart player that can help me improve my game – especially hoping to improve parts of my game that are maybe not the best. So far it’s been going good.”

Simon beat Medvedev three times in four matches on the circuit between 2017 and 2022, in a style that is often likened to the Russian’s – an ability to outwit his opponents.

“He’ll bring us his keen insight into Daniil’s game and opponents,” confirms Cervara, “new and different things, his experience and qualities. He will back up things that have already been said and done with Daniil for the last seven years.”

In an Instagram live interview earlier this month, Cervara confirmed that Medvedev still had a great deal of room for improvement in his attacking game and in his approach to clay.