Medvedev outlines his biggest issue on clay: “I have to change my game”
The Russian is full of confidence after four titles in five events, but now he must test himself on his weakest surface, starting this week in Monte-Carlo
Daniil Medvedev – Monte-Carlo 2023 © Zuma / Panoramic
If Daniil Medvedev had his way, the whole of the ATP Tour would be played on hard courts.
The Russian is coming off a streak of reaching five straight finals, winning four of them, including the most recent, the Miami Masters, having regained form after a worrying loss of confidence at the end of 2022 and start of 2023.
But now, as Jannik Sinner said after losing to Medvedev in the Miami final, let’s see how you do on clay.
Medvedev begins his clay-court season with a second-round clash against Lorenzo Sonego or a qualifier at the Monte-Carlo Masters this week. A bye into round two gives him more time to get used to the surface but until he steps out on the match court, he won’t know for sure how it feels.
“I need to see after the first match,” he told a small group of reporters in Monte-Carlo on Sunday. “I just had what, three days of practice? Maybe not even two and a half. So I need definitely more days and some matches to see where I’m at at the moment on clay.”
Medvedev: “My shots are too flat on clay”
While Rafael Nadal can play his natural game on clay and Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz too, Medvedev knows that he has to make some alterations to adjust to clay and the nuances the surfaces requires.
“I definitely have to change a little bit because my, my strokes are too flat and clay doesn’t let it go through the court enough and often opponents can use it,” he said.
“At the same time, you cannot change what you do nine months a year, drastically. So I have to find a good balance where I still play my game with a little kick to it…like changing just maybe some shots in the right moment. And that’s how I can be good and that’s how I was able to be good in the good moments.
“The tough part, yes, sometimes it doesn’t work. And that makes me really angry because on hard courts, even if kind of I lose (a point), I know what’s what’s wrong, in a way, in the point, like I know, OK, that shot was not good enough or something. On clay, sometimes I feel like I do the right thing and I’m getting destroyed. And I don’t like it.”
Medvedev: “I prefer hard courts, I’m not going to lie”
After struggling on clay in his first few years on Tour, Medvedev has learned to embrace the surface, if not quite yet to love it, reaching the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros in 2021, breaking a streak of first-round exits.
Now he’s ready to give it a go in 2023, with the confidence of his 29-3 record this year, even if he still wishes they could pave over the clay.
“I wish we could continue on hard but I understand that there are different surfaces on tour and I think that’s good because someone is better on clay, someone is better on hard, someone is better on grass,” he said.
“So, yeah, I understand that it cannot be 12 months of hard courts. And I think it’s good to to have these different surfaces. I mean, I think that’s good for the sport. But me, I prefer hard courts, I’m not going to lie.”
