Daniil Medvedev is stepped on a racket – Newspaper Kommersant No. 153 (7354) of 08/23/2022

Before the start of the US Open, starting in New York next Monday, the leadership in the rating of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) retains last year’s winner of this tournament, Daniil Medvedev. However, it will be very difficult for him to keep the first place. The most dangerous among the Russian’s several competitors is the 36-year-old Spaniard Rafael Nadal, who has an excellent chance of taking the lead for the ninth time in his career.

The Western & Southern Open, held last week in Cincinnati, ended with a surprise, which can be applied to any epithet that denotes the extreme degree of sensationalism.

For the first time in the history of competitions in the Masters 1000 category, a tennis player who is in the second half of the second hundred of the world classification, the 152nd racket of the world, Borna Coric, became the champion.

The Croatian broke the record of the Spaniard Roberto Carretero, who, taking 143rd place, took the title in Hamburg in May 1996.

Of course, we should not forget that Coric, unlike Carretero, in whose career the Hamburg success was the only high-profile achievement, is a very high-class master, who at one time was 12th in the ranking. Prior to this, the Croatian, who returned a few months ago after shoulder surgery, already had two ATP titles. In addition, he repeatedly beat not only Rafael Nadal, whom he upset for the third time at the beginning of last week, but also, for example, Roger Federer, when he was still in combat condition, and leads in a series of meetings with Daniil Medvedev – 4: 2 . And still, no one expected Coric’s victory in Cincinnati, since this tournament takes place two weeks before the US Open, when at least one of the favorites is gaining optimal shape. It is no coincidence that earlier the lowest-ranked champion there was the 17th racket of the world Spaniard Carlos Moya, who won in 2002. Nevertheless, in six matches on the way to the title, Coric defeated three representatives of the top ten, the last of which was the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, and soared in the ranking immediately by 123 positions, becoming 29th.

Moreover, the triumph of Coric, oddly enough at first glance, had a serious impact on the situation at the top of the ATP classification.

Indeed, according to the results of the Western & Southern Open, where the champion was entitled to 1000 points, the finalist – 600, and the semi-finalists – 360 each, most elite players missed a significant number of rating points. Take the same Nadal, who lost to Coric in the second round and left Cincinnati with only 10 points. Or Tsitsipas, who lost the final to the Croatian, and with him – 400 points at once. Of course, Daniil Medvedev is included in this list, who confirmed his last year result – the semi-finals, but lost Tsitsipas is there. After all, winning the tournament in Cincinnati, which looked real after he did not give up a single game in the first three matches, was not only prestigious in itself. He would also allow Medvedev to feel much more comfortable, starting next Monday to defend at the US Open not only last year’s championship title, but also the title of the first racket of the world.

After No. 2 Alexander Zverev, who continues to recover from a severe ankle injury, was forced to miss the Western & Southern Open and thus forfeit 1,000 points from his championship there 12 months ago, his 52-week ranking gap widened behind Medvedev. up to 1125 points. In fact, the advantage of the Russian is imaginary. After all, if we discard the points that were scored in New York last year and which now have to be defended there (see reference), the situation looks completely different.

Nadal is in the lead, ahead of Zverev by 590 points, and Medvedev is only third. Not far away is Tsitsipas with 19-year-old Carlos Alcaras, who, after a bright spring take-off in recent weeks, slowed down a bit, but still takes the highest fourth place in his career with good prospects for first. A little lower is the Norwegian Kasper Ruud. In addition to them, there are six tennis players who could theoretically bypass Medvedev after the US Open, having received 2,000 points for the championship there. Their number at the moment also includes Novak Djokovic, who, as you know, due to the lack of a coronavirus vaccination in New York, will almost certainly not play. Zverev will not be there either. He is still undergoing rehabilitation, he is not ready to resume playing practice, and on Monday he officially withdrew from the tournament.

Therefore, the main intrigue at the US Open so far looks like the confrontation between Medvedev and Nadal.

Win the Russian in Cincinnati, and he would be 105 points behind the Spaniard in the live rankings. To eliminate him, in New York, Medvedev would need to show any result starting from the quarterfinals, provided that Nadal loses one round earlier, and if the Spaniard lost in the second round, then the Russian would have had 1/8 finals.

In reality, however, Medvedev’s task is much more difficult. He is 745 points behind Nadal and will be able to beat him only in two cases – if he wins the US Open again or loses in the final, but not to the Spaniard, and he will fly out no later than the quarterfinals. Thus, Nadal actually not only starts in New York from pole position, but also has a noticeable margin of safety before the start of the confrontation with Medvedev.

Evgeny Fedyakov