A player like no other- Daniil Medvedev the Russian
View(s):Medvedev is an unusual Russian player. Tennis always had players from Russia. Marat Safin is the name most of us easily remember. He was a power-house and was world No.1 about a decade ago. Since then, one cannot recall a big dominating Russian name. Now 39, Safin is a Russian Politician.
Daniil Medvedev has surfaced and all the signs are correct to say, he is here to stay. The world was waiting for a new name and, more so, a new brand of Tennis. A brand different to that of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer. Medvedev has both. At 23, he is the most dreaded opponent of the Top 10 players.
Medvedev plays different
The biggest surprise is that, all at the top of world rankings say it is difficult to know or describe how Medvedev plays. He lost to Nadal in the 2019 US Open final. In reality, Nadal outlasted him, but did not outclass him tactically. Nadal, in his US Open post-match comments, said Medvedev is difficult to play and ‘I do not know how he plays’. Surprisingly, it came from a player who beat him just a few minutes ago. So baffling is Medvedev’s Tennis, even to a seasoned professional.
Medvedev’s last victim was Alexander Zverev, in Shanghai. Zverev, a German with Russian parentage, is holding Top 10 position comfortably this year. Medvedev, last week, beat him to win his back-to-back ATP Masters 1000 last week in Shanghai. On record, Zverev has beaten him 4 times and this was his first loss to him. He too, echoed Nadal’s opinion of Medvedev, after his loss. “It is difficult to know how he plays,” Zverev said.
Medvedev’s secret
weapon?
Tennis matches are played in front of spectators numbering thousands. What secret could be hidden from so many opponents, so well? Only a magician can achieve this. Medvedev is cool headed. His stroke-making does not look fluent as maestro Federer or Pete Sampras. However, he exhibits canny ease in executing them.
Few things an experienced eye would detect in Medvedev are, his sighting is super fast, giving him more time to cover court, by reading the ball direction very early. His strokes do not demand perfect body coordination to strike the ball with full venom. He can play every shot in the book of Tennis and his biggest advantage is his sense of court geometry. He perfectly detects court angles from anywhere and he uses it tactically. Sensing the court, his eyes are able to focus on the ball fully, to hit with lethal accuracy.
Tactically, Medvedev changes strokes relating to the opponent he is playing. May be, this is what confuses his opponents. His uses the characteristic Russian straight swings. It sends the ball flat, eliminating a lot of the time the top spin and under spin provide to opponents. These is not the mold of a regular player. Top players are right, Medvedev is different.
Players are
younger again
In the Shanghai ATP 1000 Men’s Singles final, both Medvedev and Zverev were under 24. Another youngster, Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Djokovic, before losing to Medvedev. A new set of young players are bound to dominate from now. They are appearing from Canada, far eastern Europe, Mediterranean Europe and from the Nordic regions.
Coco Gauff’s Tennis trick
Coco, as she is popularly known, is 15, and the youngest WTA event winner to date. She won the title in Linz, upper Austria. Not having enough ranking points, she was thrown into the qualifying rounds and lost in the final match in the qualifying event. The Tournament kindly offered her the ‘lucky loser’ slot in the draw. Guess what, she won the Linz title, beating Jelena Osterpenko of Latvia, winner of the French Open, in a 3-Set final. This has never happened before.
Coco too, is a difficult player to figure out how she plays. Often, she is more in a game of response to the opponent’s tactical approach, than a ‘tactical front runner’. This makes adaptability her forte. Her coach for the past few years is Patrick Mouratoglou. A Frenchman with Greek origin, who is no stranger to the Tennis world. He started his coaching in Paris in 1999. Now he works on both sides of the Atlantic, with Women and Men. Always seen courtside, when his main star Serena Williams is playing.
Patrick has a claim to 31 Major Singles titles and 4 Doubles. When he saw Coco play, he was impressed and supposed to have said that she would be No.1, one day. Currently, Tisitsipas is also working with him.
William’s inspiration
Inspired by watching Serena William play, Coco started Tennis young and won the Under 8 event and gained the title ‘Little Mo’. [Maureen Connolly was an American icon in Tennis]. Coco is 5’10’’ in height and already has a record of 38 wins and 10 losses. It is impressive. Beyond doubt, Coco is ahead of her age. WTA allows only a limited number of events participation until the player is 16.
When it comes to new names in WTA Tennis, it is loaded with young celebrities. Naomi Osaka of Japan, Bianca Andreesecu of Canada and now Coco Gauff of USA, the list is growing.
–George Paldano, Int. competition player; Accredited Coach of German Federation; National coach Brunei,
Sri Lanka; Davis-Cup, Federation Cup captain/coach — geodano2015@gmail.com