"He's like a wall" - Alex Corretja breaks down difficulty of playing Medvedev at Roland Garros

Sunday, 29 May 2022 at 08:00

Updated at Tuesday, 12 November 2024 at 15:26

byNurein Ahmed

Former ATP player Alex Corretja compared Daniil Medvedev's defense to that of a wall and that a player would need a "hammer" to break it.

Corretja was speaking on Eurosport following the match, where he assessed Medvedev's fantastic performance against Miomir Kecmanovic, in which he got the job done in straight sets.

The World No. 2 has only played in one warm-up tournament before Roland Garros because of hernia operation, came into the tournament under low expectations.

And that has taken the pressure off his shoulders to play with freedom. He was expected to encotuner his first tricky test of the tournament in the third round against rising Serbian star Kecmanovic.

The Russian is slowly getting back to his best form, and his tennis is improving with every match. He produced his best performance of defense and offense to down Kecmanovc 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.

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"Playing against Medvedev is playing like a wall. If you need to break it, you need a hammer. And Kecmanovic doesn't have a hammer yet, and he was struggling. And on this small court like Lenglen, it's better for Medvedev because his serve is much effective and doesn't go far back like on Chatrier and the combination devastated Kecmanovic."

Assessing the match, Corretja, who is a two-time runner-up at Roland Garros, told viewers that Kecmanovic did not possess the weaponry to break Medvedev's defense and the size of the court made the US Open champion to go for his shots instead of standing far back on the court.

Corretja was alluding that breaking down Medvedev in a rally is extremely difficult, and you need a signature shot to do it. The forehand is a good option, but few players on Tour have a huge forehand that can obliterate Medvedev.

You also can't really attack him on his backhand because it's very flat and deep and it creates a whole set of problems you have to deal with as well. He's simply a wall and playing against a wall is a losing battle.