Place in doubt – Newspaper Kommersant No. 146 (7347) dated 12.08.2022

The first racket of the world, Daniil Medvedev, at the end of August, under certain circumstances, may lose his leadership in the ranking. The Russian lost to Nick Kirios in the first match at the Masters series tournament held in Montreal, which cost him a large number of rating points. Already on July 22, at the end of another Masters series tournament in Cincinnati, Rafael Nadal could overtake Medvedev in the ranking. However, for this the Spaniard needs to win the competition, while hoping that Medvedev will not be able to reach the quarterfinals.

Daniil Medvede arrived in Montreal from Los Cabos, Mexico, where last week interrupted a series of five defeats in a row in the finals of ATP tournaments and won the first title of the season (14th in his career). And although the Mexican tournament can hardly be attributed to the number of demanded by the tennis elite, Medvedev’s preparation for the most difficult part of the season, the crown of which will be the US Open starting on August 29, seemed to be going well.

However, Medvedev failed the first serious test.

In Montreal, where the Masters series tournament is being held (last year Medvedev won, which means that he had to defend 1000 rating points this week), the Russian started from the second round and immediately got on Nick Kirios. The Australian is only 37th in the rankings, but this position does not reflect his current level. Kirios, recall, at the recent Wimbledon reached the final, where he lost to Novak Djokovic (rating points were not awarded at Wimbledon due to the refusal of the tournament organizers to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate, otherwise Kirios would have been ranked much higher), and last week became winner of the tournament in Washington. That is, out of the last 15 matches, Kirios won 14.

And in the match against Medvedev, Kirios showed that he really is in great shape. Although Medvedev had a chance to catch on to the game. He did not succeed in many things, but he still pulled out the first set in a tie-break and already there he defeated his opponent (7:2). Kirios at that moment was wildly nervous, launched the ball into the stands, for which he received a warning from the referee, but Medvedev failed to take advantage of this moment, mainly due to his own mistakes. Plus, the Russian could not set up the game at the reception, and the Australian, as they say, was serving. As a result, he took the second set in less than 40 minutes, and in the third he succeeded in two breaks in a row. Medvedev actually had no chance to get out of the hole.

“Medvedev could have won, but there were swings, and everywhere, in every component, little by little, Kirios was better,” said TASS President of the Russian Tennis Federation (RTF) Shamil Tarpischev. — He is generally an uncomfortable opponent for everyone, who serves great. Lost, apparently due to nerves, everyone decided one or two points.

However, Mr. Tarpishchev sees a positive moment in what happened, believing that “Medvedev needed such a difficult match in general on the eve of the US Open.”

The last Grand Slam tournament of the season, Medvedev, as it seemed until recently, was almost guaranteed to start in the status of the first racket of the world, but the defeat in Montreal complicated the situation somewhat. Medvedev’s loss of 1,000 rating points at once gave his pursuers a chance. Recall that the Russian has been leading the rating since June 13 (before that, he had already risen to the first line – he occupied it from February 28 to March 21, 2022). In total, he will spend at least 13 weeks at the top of the rankings (the previous Russian record belonged to Marat Safin – nine weeks). But already on August 22, Rafael Nadal can press Medvedev. True, the task facing the Spaniard, who is currently ranked third in the ranking (second is Alexander Zverev, but he is injured), is very difficult. He needs to win the tournament in Cincinnati, hoping that Medvedev will not get to the quarterfinals. Recall that last year in Cincinnati Medvedev reached the semifinals.

Alexander Petrov