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Danniil Medvedev is the very first to confess he does not have the power some other tennis gamers have on their serve, nor is his video game the most “beautiful.” However, he is extremely tactical and gets imaginative to discover methods to win.
All eyes are presently on world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 2 Novak Djokovic as the 2 played exhilarating matches in current finals at Wimbledon and the Cincinnati Open. They’re the favorites to win the 2023 United States Open, however the world No. 3 Medvedev is still attempting to advise everybody he does not simply take on the very best of them — he is among them.
“For sure, Carlos and Novak at the moment are the best two players in the world,” Medvedev informed CBS Sports. “… My goal is to try to play my best, and if I play someone like Carlos or Novak, these two bring the best out of me.”
The 27-year-old Russian star mentioned there is a substantial margin in between him and them in the ATP rankings, as Alcaraz and Djokovic have around 9,800 points each while he has 6,260. However, he has a comfy benefit over others as the next closest gamer is Holger Rune with 4,790 points.
“I’m somewhere there in the middle, trying to catch these guys but nobody can catch me at this moment from behind,” Medvedev stated. “But I think why we love tennis is because anyone can beat anyone.
“Imagine you simply fell ill this day, or something injures a bit more. People will not learn about it however you can lose. So we are visiting this in the United States Open, everybody can have difficulty, everybody can have hard matches.”
Medvedev is routing 5-9 in his all-time series versus Djokovic, however he made his very first Grand Slam prize by beating the Serbian veteran in the 2021 United States Open last.
His latest chance for another significant title was at Wimbledon previously this year, however Alcaraz, who holds a 2-1 lead in their all-time series, ended that dream early by taking him down in straight sets in the semifinal round. Alcaraz had likewise beat him in the last round of Indian Wells in March. Prior to that, Medvedev was riding a 19-match winning streak by getting titles at Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai.
“The last two matches against Carlos were pretty tough,” Medvedev stated. “Let’s call it, not easy, but he beat me in a good manner. So next match I play him I’m going to try to do better.”
They occur to be on the very same side of the United States Open bracket, which suggests he might deal with Alcaraz in the semifinals. The Spanish prodigy won all of it in New York in 2015 –- when Medvedev stopped working to safeguard his title by being up to Nick Kyrgios in the Round of 16.
As leading gamers in the sport, their stories link frequently. Medvedev is coming off a loss to Alexander Zverev in the Round of 16 of the Cincinnati Masters, and in an amusing turn of occasions, Alcaraz made headings after that match. Zverev informed press reporters that the 20-year-old star had actually provided him pointers on how to beat Medvedev.
However, Medvedev chuckled about the circumstance and stated it was all a bit overstated. He stated “tennis doesn’t work that way,” which it wasn’t too unexpected to lose since his video games versus Zverev had actually been close.
To him, tennis is a tactical video game, and Medvedev likes accepting the difficulty of discovering winning methods in various locations of his life -– even when it pertains to his downtime.
Medvedev is not simply among the leading tennis gamers on the planet; throughout his downtime he has actually likewise handled to turn into one of the world’s leading gamers in Rainbow Six Siege, a first-person shooter computer game. He has actually been playing it given that it came out 8 years back, signing up almost 3,000 hours, and reached a Diamond ranking. Medvedev — who ranks in the leading 5% of Rainbow Six Siege gamers — has actually been so excellent in the video game that he just recently ended up being a main ambassador for it.
Medvedev has actually bet other tennis gamers and even some popular soccer gamers, and although computer games are simply something he provides for enjoyable, he can extol being much better than all of them at Rainbow Six Siege up until now.
“Since I was young, I was always like this,” Medvedev stated of his competitive nature. “I think it was actually more about hating to lose at the beginning. With age, I understood I had to want to win more than hating to lose.”
Medvedev stated he never ever takes his video game console on trip since he does not desire it to be a diversion, particularly today. He wishes to be additional focused for the United States Open since he isn’t pleased with his lead to the last couple of competitions. Medvedev may not be the preferred to win all of it, however he remains in the mix and prepared to welcome the difficulty.
“Throughout all my career I’ve had some good moments, I’ve had some tough moments, but I feel like I was always a fighter, and after tough moments it’s about standing up and trying to win the next one,” Medvedev stated. “… That’s what I do everyday in my life, try to find ways to win. Maybe sometimes not with power, and not as beautiful as some other guys, but I try to find a way to win because that’s what life is about sometimes.”
The 2023 United States Open is happening Aug. 28 through Sept. 10 at Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. Click here for all the details you require to follow the last Grand Slam of the year.
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