{"id":330079,"date":"2026-08-26T11:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T11:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/330079\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T11:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T11:52:18","slug":"daniil-medvedev-contemplates-pickleball-career-curling-in-pre-u-s-open-changeover-crash-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/330079\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniil Medvedev contemplates pickleball career, curling in pre-U.S. Open changeover crash-out"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the evidence of this year and last, tennis fans can pull out their 2027 diaries, flick through to late August and pencil in \u201cDaniil Medvedev<\/a> gets weird.\u201d<\/p>\n

One year on from his memorable, quotable and entirely indefensible meltdown in the first round of the U.S. Open<\/a>, Medvedev, the 2021 champion in New York, used a changeover at a tuneup in Winston-Salem, N.C. to meditate on his career options and the nature of sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe I should start a career in pickleball,\u201d Medvedev, the top seed at the Winston-Salem Open after taking a wild card, mused during a 7-5, 6-3 defeat to 22-year-old American Martin Damm.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot too late. Doubles \u2026 With Jack Sock,\u201d he said, referring to the former pro who moved into pickleball after retiring from tennis and has won eight titles on the circuit. Sock, 33, also won four Grand Slam doubles titles in tennis and Olympic gold at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

Medvedev was not done with his exploration of sporting possibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery sport on this planet is better, man,\u201d he said, turning to the chair umpire.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven curling right now.\u201d What a way to catch a stray.<\/p>\n

Tennis’ latest controversy: Are the balls round?<\/p>\n

Charlie Eccleshare<\/p>\n

Medvedev, 30, is having the kind of season that might drive a player toward intrusive, existential thoughts \u2014 even before considering the fact that he is predisposed to them like few sports stars are. After a dismal first nine months of 2025, he split with longtime coach Gilles Cervara, and hired Thomas Johansson, the 2002 Australian Open champion.<\/p>\n

The switch appeared to revitalize Medvedev, who showed signs of life toward the end of the year and started 2026 with a title at the Brisbane International. After their partnership ended, Cervara had used a Medvedevian image to explain why the eight-year relationship, which saw Medvedev win that U.S. Open title and reach world No. 1, had to end. In an interview with Tennis Majors<\/a>, he said:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team around a player is like an engine\u2014a complex machine that drives forward. When it runs at full power, you go fast. At some point the engine stops, but you don\u2019t see it because the boat continues gliding. After a while, that energy is gone, and you\u2019re stuck mid-sea, trying to restart that engine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never change, Meddy \ud83e\udd23@WSOpen<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/kpQy1Omyv2<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Medvedev\u2019s engine appeared fully restarted by spring, when he reached the final of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, defeating Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> along the way with a stunning display of hyper-aggressive tennis. In that final, he took a juggernaut-like Jannik Sinner to two tiebreaks.<\/p>\n

Since then, things have been less consistent. In May, Medvedev reached the Italian Open semifinals, again losing to Sinner, but he took him to three sets. That came after being double-bageled 6-0, 6-0 by Matteo Berrettini at the Monte Carlo Masters, and before losing in the first round of the French Open to Australian wild card Adam Walton. Medvedev split with Johansson this summer, and is working with Kazakhstan\u2019s Andrey Golubev for the U.S. hard-court swing.<\/p>\n

He will arrive in New York \u2014 on the back of his latest journey into the surreal \u2014 for the one-year anniversary of one of his most evocative but also most concerning displays. Medvedev is one of the great talkers on the ATP Tour, a considered and cerebral news conference subject and interviewee who will speak his mind and provide genuine insight into what elite tennis players think about, from their opponents, to their own games, to \u2014 especially in Medvedev\u2019s case \u2014 the quality of tennis balls.<\/p>\n

His turn of phrase, from the immortal \u201cyou better shut your f\u2013\u2013\u2013 up, OK?\u201d to Stefanos Tsitsipas at the 2018 Miami Open, to \u201cwho are they? Illuminati?\u201d when discussing roof closures at the 2024 Madrid Open, can be sparkling.<\/p>\n

But he can also spiral from absurdity into petulance, anger and outright bad sportsmanship. So it was at the 2025 U.S. Open, when a photographer walked onto the court during Medvedev\u2019s first-round match against Benjamin Bonzi<\/a> of France. Bonzi was serving for a straight-sets win, and the photographer made his move between his first and second serve on match point.<\/p>\n

Chair umpire Greg Allensworth ruled that he would get another first serve, and Medvedev went ballistic. While his outburst had some of his typical vaudeville \u2014 \u201cwhat did Reilly Opelka say?\u201d remains the great unanswered question in tennis \u2014 he also incited the crowd to boo and delayed Bonzi\u2019s attempt to win the match by six minutes, and claimed that Allensworth wanted to leave because he got \u201cpaid by the hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the match resumed, Medvedev broke Bonzi\u2019s serve and won the next two sets, but ultimately lost the match in five.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did the work. I didn\u2019t do anything,\u201d Medvedev said in his news conference. \u201cThe crowd did what they did without me asking them too much, and it was fun to witness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDaniil started it. He put oil on the fire,\u201d Bonzi said in his news conference.<\/p>\n

Medvedev was fined $42,500 for the incident<\/a>. He will receive no such sanction for his journey into the twilight zone in Winston-Salem, but he will return to New York once again inhabiting his role as the sport\u2019s compelling, at-times unforgivable anti-hero.<\/p>\n