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Daniil Medvedev suggested that the court and balls at the Paris Masters “disadvantaged” him and that was a big reason why he ended up packing his bags very early.
After a first-round bye, the No. 4 seed opened his run at Bercy on Wednesday. But although the 2020 champion was regarded among the favorites for the title, his campaign was a short-lived one after Alexei Popyrin upset him in three sets 6-4 2-6 7-6 (4).
At one point in the third set, Medvedev got extremely annoyed with himself after falling down by a break and he threw his racket into the air. After failing to catch the racket as it was landing, the world No. 5 got hit by it. While the Russian managed to get the break back and force a tie-break, he didn’t manage to complete his third-set comeback.
Earlier year, Medvedev complained at the Indian Wells Masters that the court was “too slow” and that it was “a shame” to call it a hard-court tournament. When players arrived in Paris this year, many instantly noticed that the surface was probably the fastest in years. And after the Russian’s early exit, one reporter was curious to know what happened out there because the assumption is that the world No. 5 loves fast conditions.
“I like the court, but for me it’s not about slow or fast. It’s just that sometimes it’s too slow. When I talk about courts, it happened one (time in) Indian Wells, and to be honest, I don’t remember much, talking more than there. So it became a big story, and now you’re asking me all the time. But I only talked there, you know (smiling),” Medvedev said.
“So the court I think was, like, fine. Yeah, maybe, when I say a bit too fast, when it’s the fastest on tour, you can feel it, everyone can feel it, so we’re like a bit of surprised. We need time to adapt to it. I have a bigger problem on tour. You know, some players get advantaged by it; some players disadvantaged. It’s okay. It can happen. But it’s a big disadvantage for me.”
Medvedev stunningly claims all the balls didn’t feel the same
After making his point clear about the court speed, the Russian tennis star also indicated that all the balls didn’t feel the same. One can contains six balls. But according to the 2020 Paris champion, he had a different feeling with any of them.
“I mean, from one side I don’t want to be the one who is crying when he’s losing first round, but I made semis in Beijing and quarters in Shanghai. I lost only to Alcaraz and Sinner. I was crying there also, even winning matches. As I say, some players will like this ball, so I get it. I’m crying because it disadvantages me. But if you take six balls out of the new balls out of the can, if you look closely and you bounce them, there are going to be six different balls. I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to be,” Medvedev said.
Recently, the 28-year-old said that nowadays it is impossible for him to routinely win his opening match at a tournament because of the conditions. He repeated the same message after his Paris exit.
“First rounds are always very tough for me, because now the matches I was winning before maybe 3-3, I cannot do it anymore. Every match I play I have to fight. I have to win 7-6 in the third. And sometimes I lose. Yeah, that’s a reality. It’s the most first-round exits for me since probably 2018, I would guess, or maybe even further, on hard courts. And there is a reason for this,” the world No. 5 said.
Medvedev finds his bizarre stat as ‘funny’
One of the strangest stats on the ATP Tour is the fact that the Russian has 20 titles in his collection but that he has never won the same tournament twice. As mentioned above, one of those titles came at Bercy four years ago. When it specifically comes to Paris, he had a chance to win back-to-back titles there but lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2021 final.
Following the Popyrin loss, Medvedev was asked if he feels certain pressure and thinks about the stat when he arrives at a tournament where he is a past champion.
“No pressure. Just, yeah, funny statistic, which I want to change. I’m already 28, 29 next year (smiling). I want to change it, but so far I didn’t manage to do it. I’m going to try again. Maybe I should play to 50 somewhere where I won already (smiling),” he replied.
Meanwhile, Medvedev’s season is not over yet since he still has the ATP Finals in Turin.
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