What About Daniil Medvedev is Underrated? My Attacking Recreation, Says the Russian

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday April 2, 2023

A number of weeks in the past, when he was requested to discuss what made Daniil Medvedev such a troublesome problem, Carlos Alcaraz began with a easy however efficient description: “He’s a wall,” he mentioned.

It’s true, little question. Medvedev has developed a popularity for being an extremely savvy defender, one which constantly befuddles his opponents together with his courtroom protection and courtroom place. But being a wall isn’t the one factor that Daniil Medvedev does effectively. You don’t turn into one of many world’s greatest hard-courters doing only one factor.

Asked to elucidate what he felt was underrated about his sport, the newly minted Miami champion advised reporters that his capability for aggression typically will get ignored.

“I would say in a way my attacking skills [are underrated], because I know that I’m good in defense, and especially on the return games, I can be sometimes defensive and there are some points I win kind of by just putting the ball back and making the opponents miss, but on my serve I feel like I’m pretty aggressive all the time,” five-time Masters 1000 champion Medvedev mentioned. “And on the opponent’s serve, sometimes when I see my good matches, if I make a good return, then from the position I’m at, I’m really fast to go forward and maybe attack the next one.

“So I think, yeah, this could be a little bit underrated in my game, the attacking skills I have.”

No doubt about it. Medvedev shouldn’t be a one-trick pony. He cleverly works factors with a view to exploit his benefits. He transitions from protection to impartial to offense and again seamlessly and retains his opponents guessing all of the whereas. And when he’s serving he could be flat-out disruptive, serving large and clicking on serve-plus-one with the most effective of them.

That’s how he has been in a position to win 19 laborious courtroom titles in his profession, and declare 24 of his final 25 choices since February.