Medvedev hopes to join elite company with fourth title in a row
Daniil Medvedev is already making some history with three straight titles and now four consecutive final appearances. Now he hopes to make even more in Sunday’s Indian Wells final.
Daniil Medvedev, Indian Wells 2023
Daniil Medvedev has won three titles and 19 matches in a row heading into Sunday’s BNP Paribas Open final against Carlos Alcaraz. Prior to arriving in Indian Wells, Medvedev lifted back-to-back-to-back trophies in Rotterdam, Doha, and Dubai in back-to-back-to-back weeks.
He is already the first player since Andy Murray in the fall of 2016 to reach four consecutive finals on the ATP Tour. With Indian Wells a two-week tournament, Medvedev has advanced to four finals in the span of five weeks. Murray did the same, as he took one week off during his run of titles in Beijing, Shanghai, Vienna and Paris seven years ago.
The Scot went on to capture five titles in the span of seven weeks, as he also triumphed at the Nitto ATP Finals to end the 2016 campaign at No 1 in the world.
Medvedev like Murray and Federer ?
Medvedev now hopes to get the job done on Sunday and match Murray with four titles in five weeks. Roger Federer also won four straight titles during his illustrious career, and did so during this same time period — although his run spanned seven weeks. In 2005 the Swiss prevailed in Rotterdam, Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami.
“For sure I like these stats, especially when you do well,” Medvedev said following his semi-final win over Frances Tiafoe on Saturday. “Like, you don’t want to be the one who lost the most matches in a row on the ATP Tour or something like this. So for sure when you do well and then you hear some of these stats, it’s just great.”
“But at the same time I know that it comes with wins. So first and the most important part is to win. Once you win, you never want to stop. No matter which record maybe I broke… I just want to win tomorrow.”
No matter which record maybe I broke… I just want to win tomorrow.
Daniil Medvedev
“Yeah, it’s just great sometimes when you beat some records or become world No 1 or win a slam that you know that when you’re 70 you can still say, ‘Yeah, I remember the year when I made four finals in a row. That’s great. But in the moment, it doesn’t matter for me. The most important is to try to win this tournament and to win these matches.”
If Medvedev really wants to make history and captured five titles in succession, he will have to win both Indian Wells and Miami. Ivan Lendl accomplished that feat in 1981 and did it in five straight weeks — in Madrid, Barcelona, Basel, Vienna and Cologne. The Czech won 44 matches in a row overall.
Medvedev has a long way to go to equal that kind of effort, but if he wins on Sunday he will become the 25th man in the Open Era to go on a 20-match winning streak at the ATP level.
LONGEST ATP WINNING STREAKS IN THE OPEN ERA
- Bjorn Borg 49 (1978)
- Guillermo Vilas 46 (1978)
- Ivan Lendl 44 (1981-82)
- Novak Djokovic 43 (2010-11)
- John McEnroe 42 (1983-84)
- Roger Federer 41 (2006-07)
- Jimmy Connors 37 (1974)
- Thomas Muster 35 (1995)
- Ilie Nastase 33 (1972)
- Rafael Nadal 32 (2008)
- Rod Wash 29 (1969)
- Jose Luis Clerc 28 (1981)
- Andy Murray 28 (2016-17)
- Pete Sampras 27 (1994)
- Andre Agassi 26 (1995)
- Jim Courier 25 (1992)
- Arthur Ashe 23 (1968)
- Kent Carlsson 23 (1988)
- Juan Martin DelPotro 23 (2008)
- Manuel Orantes 22 (1976)
- Boris Becker 21 (1986)
- Mats Wilander 21 (1988)
- Stefan Edberg 21 (1990)
- Stan Smith 20 (1972)
