Medvedev outlines Sinner’s improvement: “He serves 10 times better”

The first six times Daniil Medvedev played Jannik Sinner, he beat him. The Russian, it seemed, had the wood over Sinner, always able to find a way to get the job done.

Over the past year, though, things have changed and Sinner’s comprehensive, 6-1, 6-2 win over Medvedev in the semi-finals of the Miami Open on Friday was his fifth in a row, reducing the deficit on the head to head record to 6-5.

Sinner also beat Medvedev to win the Australian Open in January for his first Grand Slam title but while that one was five sets, with Sinner coming from two sets down, Friday’s encounter was as one-sided as the score sounds, the Italian romping through to the final, where he will play Grigor Dimitrov.

MEDVEDEV: HE MISSES LESS, HE CHOOSES HIS SHOTS MORE WISELY

How has he done it? Sinner points to all the hard work he’s put in with his team over the past few months, as well as the confidence gleaned by picking up so many wins. Ask Medvedev what’s changed, and he has a simple answer.

“As a person, I think he’s the same,” Medvedev told reporters in Miami. “We don’t know each other, like, too close but we get along well. I don’t see any difference.

“As a player, he misses less, he chooses his shots more wisely. He serves 10 times better. You know, Jannik was always serving well, but now he serves like big, big. Yeah, I wonder actually how he made it, because serve is not that easy, it’s not that easy shot to work on, and now his serve is a big improvement for him and kind of what I have could have done better today, the serve.”

TACTICS FINE, EXECUTION LACKING

In Melbourne, Medvedev stunned Sinner in the first two sets with his aggressive return position, eshewing his usual position almost on the back fence, changing the view Sinner had on serve. On Friday, he tried to be aggressive again, but he wasn’t quite as accurate and Sinner, in the form of his life, stormed away to victory.

“I think the tactics I used in the beginning of the match was not the problem,” he said. “The problem was the execution, too many mistakes. Not enough precision.

“So for sure after the match like this, I’m asking myself if I should have changed it earlier, but I stick to what I thought was going to work, and I wanted to do it better and I didn’t manage to do it. When I changed, it was just too late. When I have the next match against him, I’m gonna see what I do and how I develop.

“Medvedev: Let’s see if he manages to keep playing this way”

When Medvedev did have half chances, like a 0-30 on the Sinner serve, the Italian shut the door with more outstanding serving and big hitting.

“He doesn’t miss much and he can make winners so well,” Medvedev said. “He serves very well. Even today the few moments where maybe I could have came back in the match here and there, 130 on the line, slice on the line, second serve on the line, deep, and yeah, that’s tough to play when he plays like this.

“The next time I’m gonna play I’m gonna try for sure to play better, maybe a bit different, and let’s see if he manages to continue to play the way he does, because if he manages, it’s going to be tough for many other players.”

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