{"id":547067,"date":"2026-03-17T22:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/547067\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T22:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:21:10","slug":"medvedev-the-world-no-3-who-wont-say-hes-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/547067\/","title":{"rendered":"Medvedev, the World No. 3 who won\u2019t say he\u2019s back"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniil Medvedev had just played some of the best tennis of his recent years. He had dismantled Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>, pushed Jannik Sinner to a double tiebreak, got the third rank at the ATP Race and walked off the Indian Wells court to a standing ovation. And when asked, in a characteristically candid sit-down with Russian journalist Sofya Tartakova on her Bolshe! channel, whether he was back \u2014 truly back \u2014 he looked almost offended by the optimism.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can always go away,\u201d he said. \u201cIt can return just as randomly.\u201d This is Medvedev\u2019s version of a victory lap.<\/p>\n

What makes the Indian Wells run different \u2013 and what Tartakova pressed him on \u2014 is not the result but the explanation he gives for it. By his own account, he arrived in Dubai, two weeks before Indian Wells, barely able to play Worse, he said, than the low before last year\u2019s US Open.<\/p>\n

Then something clicked. He cannot fully explain it, and crucially, he does not pretend to. \u201cIn Dubai before the tournament I couldn\u2019t hit a single ball into the court at all,\u201d he told Tartakova. \u201cAnd then I somehow managed to catch something, some confidence.\u201d Indian Wells followed that wave. Whether Miami, this week, will too, he genuinely doesn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

The gap between him and the top two, he says, is not what people assume. In the final he matched Sinner on the backhand, competed in the rallies, served better than Alcaraz the day before. The margins were visible and real. But Sinner\u2019s serve \u2013 better, Medvedev noted, than anyone he had faced all year \u2013 applied a pressure that accumulated quietly across two and a half hours.<\/p>\n

Medvedev : \u201cThey play like that all year. I have more lapses.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt puts pressure on you, you get tired,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think it was much the same for Carlos yesterday.\u201d What Sinner and Alcaraz have that he doesn\u2019t, he says plainly, is not a different level \u2013 it\u2019s a sustained one. \u201cThey play like that all year. I have more lapses.\u201d To beat them requires his absolute best, and them being ever so slightly off. He names that margin without self-pity, which is what makes it interesting.<\/p>\n


\n \"\"
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

The second set tiebreak still stings. He had it at 4-0. A net cord at 4-2 went against him in a rally he felt he was controlling. Then, at 5-4, Sinner produced what Medvedev called simply \u201can insane rally, as happens.\u201d Two points. That was the match, won 7-6, 7-6 by the Italian. \u201cIt\u2019s naturally disappointing,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it\u2019s tennis, it happens. There\u2019s nothing you can do about it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

His coach Thomas Johansson was audible throughout the final from the player\u2019s box, telling him to step into the court on the return. Medvedev heard everything and tried to apply it. But he is clear-eyed about what coaching from the stands can and cannot do.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe prompts you from his side, but he knows that you will be the one deciding. It\u2019s not like he told you to try for a winner on the next return and you go \u2013 all okay, next return a winner.\u201d What he values in working with Johansson, he says, is simpler than tactics: he listens, and he believes what he hears. The rest is on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cContinue in Miami\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by Tartakova whether any of this \u2013 the level, the results, the rivalry with the best two players in the world \u2014 actually gives him pleasure, his answer is the most revealing thing in the interview. Not exactly, he says. Tennis is work. Winning a match is a bonus \u2013 a 13th salary, he offers, smiling.<\/p>\n

Real pleasure, the kind he can name, is karting once a year or a good dessert somewhere. What he feels when his tennis works is something quieter and more professional than pleasure. \u201cIt\u2019s pleasant when your work works,\u201d he said. \u201cButter being buttery.\u201d Winning a tournament gets closest to the real thing. Everything else is the job doing what it should.<\/p>\n

\"DaniilDaniil Medvedev, Indian Wells 2026 | \u00a9 Zuma \/ PsNewz<\/p>\n

Medvedev flew to Miami the day after the final. His bags did not, prompting a politely exasperated message to United Airlines on social media from a man who, one assumes, has things he needs before the Miami Open begins.\u201dIn Miami I will try to continue this, he said. And usually I succeed when I\u2019ve caught this wave. But again, if you look at 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2023, there were matches, tournaments, and moments when it all disappeared. \u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you just have to keep working, keep trying. The more you can catch a wave like here and in Dubai, the higher you will be in the rankings, the more chances you will have to beat Carlos, Jannik, and other big players.\u201d<\/p>\n

The wave is there. He can feel it. Whether it carries him through Miami or vanishes between now and the first round, Daniil Medvedev would like you to know: he told you so either way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Daniil Medvedev had just played some of the best tennis of his recent years. He had dismantled Carlos…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-547067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}