Medvedev v Zverev: Match-up, stats, track record, everything you need to know – updated after 2024 Australian Open semi-final
All you need to know about the rivalry between Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev
Antoine Couvercelle / Panoramic
MEDVEDEV V ZVEREV: A RIVALRY IN 19 ACTS (SO FAR)
Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev are both still young in tennis terms but the pair are already carving out a rivalry which one day could match some of the best in the history of the sport.
The pair have met 19 times – with Medvedev leading 18-7. That includes a three-hour, 17-minute fourth-round win in Indian Wells in March 2023, a match that contained an ankle injury for the Russian and an outrageous smash off a Zverev smash for a winner.
The Indian Wells meeting followed another mini-classic. Zverev won their first four encounters but Medvedev had won the past five until the German beat him to win the ATP Finals title in Milan on November 2021.
Medvedev extended his advantage on clay in Monte-Carlo in April 2023, coming back from one set down to win 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7) in the round of 16 – saving two match points in the process.
The match in Monte-Carlo was followed by a sharp exchange of words, with Zverev criticising his opponent for poor sportsmanship after taking a bathroom break, calling him “one of the most unfair players in the world”.
Medvedev responded first with a frank admission that sometimes he had irritated other players on tour, and that he was sorry for it – but that he did not feel he had done anything to wrong Zverev.
“When he says someone is not fair play, you’re like, Okay, great. Look at yourself in the mirror.”
Since then, Medvedev has said that the pair have cleared the air, but that doesn’t mean their spat won’t reignite the next time they’re on court together.
“We never know,” he told the Tennis Channel in Rome in 2023 ahead of their round of 16 meeting – which he won 6-2, 7-6 (3).
Zverev beat the Russian for only the second time in their last 11 meetings when he won another tight three-setter in Cincinnati in August 2023, after which he revealed that a few tips from world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz had helped him find a way to victory.
Medvedev won 6-4, 6-3 in just one hour, 24 minutes, in the semi-finals of the Astana Open and also won their most recent meeting, a 7-6 (7), 6-4 triumph in the round-robin stages of the ATP Finals in Turin in November, 2023.
Their most recent meeting came in the semi-finals of the 2024 Australian Open, where Medvedev recovered from two sets down to beat Zverev 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-3, and reach his third Australian Open final.
HOW MANY TITLES FOR MEDVEDEV AND ZVEREV?
With just over a year separating the two men, they’re at similar stages of their career although Zverev hit the big time a little earlier than the Russian.
Medvedev won the first of his 20 titles to date in Sydney in 2018; he’s won four Masters 1000 titles and won the ATP Finals in 2020. The biggest title of his career, though, came at the US Open in 2021, when he beat Novak Djokovic for his first Grand Slam title. He has enjoyed a rich streak of form at the start of 2023, winning three titles in consecutive weeks in Dubai, Doha and Rotterdam, and added two more in Miami and Rome.
Zverev won the first of his 21 titles to date back in 2016, in St Petersburg. He won five titles the following year as he broke into the world’s top five and in 2021, he won a career-high six titles, including the Olympics and ATP Finals (for a second time). He’s won five Masters 1000s and his most recent title came in Chengdu in 2023.
- Daniil Medvedev has won 20 titles in his career, including:
Grand Slams: 1
ATP Finals: 1
Masters 1000s: 6
ATP 500s: 4
ATP 250: 8
- Alexander Zverev has won 21 titles in his career, including:
Grand Slams: 0
ATP Finals: 2
Masters 1000s: 5
ATP 500s: 5
ATP 250s: 8
Olympics: 1
WHO HAS THE BEST STATS?
Daniil Medvedev has won 71.2% of the matches he has played in his career (332 wins to 134 losses).
On hard courts, Medvedev has won 75 % of his matches (264 wins to 88 losses)
On clay, Medvedev has won 51.9% of his matches (28 wins to 26 losses)
On grass, Medvedev has won 66.7% of his matches (40 wins to 20 losses)
Alexander Zverev has won 68.9% of the matches he has played in his career (392 matches to 177 losses).
On hard courts, Zverev has won 67.7% of his matches (231 wins to 110 losses)
On clay, Zverev has won 72.3% of his matches (128 wins to 49 losses)
On grass, Zverev has won 64.7% of his matches (33 wins to 18 losses)
WHAT IS THE BEST MATCH BETWEEN MEDVEDEV AND ZVEREV?
Seven of their 18 matches have now gone the full distance, with Zverev winning the first, in Miami in 2018 and Medvedev taking the second, in the round-robin stages of the ATP Finals in 2021.
The round-robin match in Turin had everything; Medvedev busting a gut to make sure he kept his unbeaten record and maintain his winning streak over Zverev, taking it to five.
In the end, perhaps it came back to haunt Medvedev when Zverev gained his revenge in the final but the way the two men battled said a lot about their competitive instincts.
