Cervara: “Being between Novak and the Alcaraz generation, it must be a driving force for Daniil”
Gilles Cervara builds a bridge between Daniil Medvedev’s excellent 2023 season and a 2024 season where both men intend to return to Grand Slam glory
Gilles Cervara Portrait
Gilles, before talking about the 2024 season, let's talk about 2023. What is your assessment of Daniil Medvedev's past season?
It was a great season. I remember this period of Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami which was really rich and above all, without using the word “unexpected”, it came from afar if we remember the start of the 2023 season and the Open from Australia (Editor’s note, 3rd round loss against Sebastian Korda). With Daniil and Eric (Hernandez, physical trainer), we said to ourselves that it would be good to have a good result during one of the five tournaments. And there, he won them all except Indian Wells, where he made the final. Almost five out of five during the “Coast to Coast”, it was exceptional and it gave a basis, a dimension to the season. There were then good results and a few other trophies (66 victories and 18 defeats, 5 titles, 4 finals including one at the US Open, semi-final at Wimbledon). A great season, ending in 3rd place in the world. We hope to do as well, or even better, in 2024.
You told us that the way Daniil went from a huge level of doubt to a huge level of confidence in two, three matches in Rotterdam was difficult to understand. With hindsight, have you clarified what allows him to evolve so quickly from one mental state to another?
It’s always difficult to say, but let’s put it this way: Daniil is someone who has a very, very strong desire to win, whose level of expectations towards himself is very, very high, which leads him to a constant search for solutions. At a given moment, inside himself, a process is put in place, which aligns and which creates fluidity in this state of confidence. When he’s there, he clings to it, he ignites and it gets better. After 2022, which was below his expectations, he got back on the highway with good results in Grand Slams, two victories in Masters 1000 and trophies in 500. The next step is to be able to regain a Grand Slam, after the US Open 2021.
Now at the end of the year, whether in the final at the US Open, in Vienna, in Beijing or even the semi-final in Turin, against this kind of opponent (Djokovic and Sinner, editor’s note), in this kind of match, you must be able to successfully complete the last ascent. When you play the leading role, all you want is to win the biggest tournaments, that is to say the Grand Slams. The objective is clear and self-evident.
Daniel is 27 years old. Without being old, he is no longer a member of a NextGen who would have everything to conquer, like between 2019 and 2021 for example. How do you understand this change in status and do you know if he has a +35 performance profile, like Novak?
No one can know that, even him today. Even if he said it, it would just have a declarative value at the moment, because life makes people evolve. But indeed in terms of experience and physique, he is entering the third quarter of his career, with a status to defend. In his generation, he is the most advanced. The others are pushing behind: Alcaraz and Sinner of course but also players like Fils or Shelton who, I think, will annoy the best quickly.
Will he start to, perhaps, play less and choose his tournaments more, as your choice seems to indicate not to play before the Australian Open and to arrive directly in Melbourne to play a Gran Slam?
Yes, it is a choice that was made both to manage the number of matches played during the year in order to be as efficient as possible during major tournaments, and also to have a little more time at home. and a real break. In the past, he hardly had any.
Is Daniil close or still quite far from his maximum potential?
We are obviously getting closer but in my eyes there is still a good margin for progress. All the thinking consists of making this potential achievable to go even further and win other Grand Slams. If we talk about his tennis progression, we cannot distinguish it, in my point of view, from “mental” progression. I don’t like that word, so let’s say that a player like him can have a certain vision of his game, certain beliefs about his game. To be able to do new things, you have to dare to fail at the beginning before take advantage of new game options, necessary to meet the challenges offered by his greatest adversaries.
TO BE ABLE TO DO NEW THINGS, YOU MUST DARE TO FAIL AT THE START BEFORE TAKING THE BENEFIT OF NEW GAME OPTIONS, NECESSARY TO RESPOND TO THE CHALLENGES OFFERED BY YOUR BIGGEST ADVERSARIES.
Gilles Cervara on Daniil Medvedev
Are there any regrets despite everything about certain moments from this season?
When you see how the US Open final is going, I just wanted Daniil to win the second set. I don’t know what would have happened behind it. But given the intensity of the battle at that moment, it’s true that if I had to go back, change one point by touching the screen, it would be to see Daniil win this set.
We felt in 2023, particularly at Wimbledon, when he reached the semi-finals, his first Grand Slam since the 2022 Australian Open, that he wanted to somehow set the record straight.
I don’t think in those terms, and I don’t think Daniil does either. Even if he enjoys proving that he is one of the best players in the world. Indeed, today we are outside the questions that could be asked at the end of the 2022 season or even after the 2023 Australian Open. The season which is opening is full of questions: Sinner: will he join the group of potential Grand Slam winners? Will Alcaraz continue his progress? Will Novak Djokovic stop winning everything and, at the same time, why would he stop? Daniil is between this generation and Novak but we don’t put crazy pressure on ourselves about that. It must be more of a driving force than something holding him back.
Daniil became a father at the end of 2022. We saw him traveling with his daughter. Is this a parameter that has changed something in his life as a tennis player?
Oddly, I can’t really answer this question. This is due to operational reasons between us, where we sufficiently separate private life and professional life. I perceived in Daniil, as a person, an emotional, playful side, which I had not detected until then but which is evident when he is with his daughter. For the rest, in my eyes, he puts the same application and attention into his work.
You and Daniil are used to discussing, at the end of every year, your mutual desire to continue together…
Yes, we had this discussion the day after the US Open final, at my request. We made some adjustments, in particular that I will do fewer weeks in tournaments with him, if he continues to obtain good results. We will focus on the very big tournaments, the Grand Slams and the Masters 1000. I happened to do 47 weeks in a year, we have been operating this way for seven years. This detail will probably evolve in our operation.
