Daniil Medvedev is preparing to dig the ground – Newspaper Kommersant No. 63 (7508) dated 04/12/2023

Monaco hosts the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Masters 1000 tournament with a prize fund of €5.8 million, which traditionally opens a series of major European competitions on clay. In the event of a successful performance on this surface over the next two months, Russian Daniil Medvedev, who has won four titles in five finals since mid-February, has a chance to again lead the world rankings.

The magnificent series of Daniil Medvedev, who over the past few weeks won at tournaments in Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai and Miami, and in Indian Wells reached to the final, was reflected in the course of the struggle for the highest line in the world classification. If exactly two months ago the Russian took only 11th place there, now he is fifth, and the option of returning Medvedev to first place, which he held for 16 weeks last year, looks quite real. Moreover, theoretically, this return could take place even before the start of the French Open, which starts on the last Sunday of May.

At present, the position in the top five in the ATP rankings is this:

1. Djokovic – 7160 points,
2. Spaniard Carlos Alcaras (6780 points),
3. Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (5770),
4. Norwegian Kasper Ruud (5255),
5. Daniil Medvedev (5150).

For the top of the rankings, where gaps between neighbors are often in the thousands of points, they are pretty tight. At the same time, five major tournaments will be held over the next nine weeks: in Monte Carlo (April 9–16), Barcelona (April 17–23), Madrid (April 26–May 7), Rome (May 10–21) and, of course, , in Paris on the courts of Roland Garros (May 28 – June 11). Therefore, permutations in this elite group are very likely.

Medvedev’s position before the start of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters looks extremely advantageous.

Last year, the Russian at the same time was recovering from a hernia operation, and then, having spent only one clay tournament for the entire season, Roland Garros, received 180 points in Paris for reaching the fourth round. The soil has long been considered the most difficult surface for Medvedev, and his grid is not the simplest. Italian Lorenzo Sonego, with whom the Russian will play on Wednesday in the 1/16 finals, is able to give him big problems. At the same time, it cannot be said that the Russian is doomed to failure on clay courts. Indeed, in 2019, he reached the semi-finals in Monte Carlo, where he defeated Tsitsipas, who was in the top ten, and Djokovic, who was in the lead, and then played in the final in Barcelona. Of course, in order to achieve good results on clay, Medvedev needs to slightly modify his game, which is largely based on flat, rather than twisted shots. If he succeeds, then the rise in the rating steps will continue. In any case, Medvedev’s physical condition is now at a good level, and before Roland Garros, in addition to Monte Carlo, he plans to perform in Barcelona, ​​​​Madrid and Rome.

Novak Djokovic needs to defend 1880 points during the clay season, of which 1000 was earned for winning the Italian Open.

For him, this is a standard task, although it is not yet completely clear how the break associated with the forced absence of the recent two “masters” in America, where he was not allowed due to lack of vaccination against coronavirus, affected the form of the Serb. According to Djokovic himself, in the process of adapting to the ground, the first two matches played on this surface are of key importance for him. A year ago, Djokovic in Monte Carlo was immediately stopped by the dangerous Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, but this time the Serbian, showing far from his best tennis, beat the 26-year-old Russian Ivan Gakhov, who, occupying only 186th place in the ranking, first for the first time qualified for the ATP tournament, and then in the first round he knocked out the strong middle peasant of the first hundred American Mackenzie McDonald from the grid.

Carlos Alcaraz is in a similar situation. In 2022, he scored 1870 points on clay, receiving 1000 victory points in Madrid, 500 in Barcelona, ​​but first, like Djokovic, he flew out at the start of the tournament in Monte Carlo. True, the Spaniard, like his famous compatriot, 14-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal, decided to miss this week due to another injury. The ground is the native surface of Alcaraz, and it is clear that it will be very dangerous on it. Although the physical ailments that interfere with the 19-year-old player have become too frequent, it is not yet clear how his body will react to the serious loads that regular performances on the ground are almost always associated with.

The hardest to defend the current positions will be Stefanos Tsitsipas, who a year ago won the second time in Monte Carlo, then was in the final of Rome and earned a total of 2230 points on clay courts.

After all, more recently, the Greek was worried about an injury to his right shoulder. Last spring, by the middle of the French Open, he had already lost his optimal form, dropping out in the fourth round, but Kasper Ruud, on the contrary, made it to the final in Paris and received 1200 of his 2045 points earned there during the period under review. The Norwegian loves to play on clay, and it’s no surprise that he quickly moved to this surface, winning a small tournament of the 250 category in Estoril, Portugal, on Sunday. Theoretically, Ruud, before his Parisian glasses burned out, might even try to catch up with Djokovic. True, for a successful chase, he will need to maintain ideal physical conditions for a month and a half, and this is not easy.

Evgeny Fedyakov