Any concerns about Daniil Medvedev's fitness ahead of his first match at the Paris Masters have been quelled by the world No. 5 ahead of the tournament.
Medvedev's last appearance was at the Six Kings Slam Exhibition in Saudi Arabia. Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, and Holger Rune were the other players who competed in the event.
The 2021 US Open champion only played one match at the tournament. That was a 0-6, 3-6 hammering by Sinner, who won his eighth consecutive contest against Medvedev on a hard court.
Sinner went on to win the Six Kings Slam by beating Alcaraz in the final. For his efforts, he received the largest paycheck in tennis history, $6 million, although Sinner insisted afterward that he does not play for money.
However, all the players were rewarded handsomely for participating in the tournament. Medvedev and Rune received $1.5 million despite playing and losing one match at the Six Kings Slam.
Although Sinner played exceptionally well against Medvedev, the 28-year-old was not himself throughout the match and lost far more tamely than would be expected for a hard-court specialist like him.
Medvedev withdrew from the Vienna Open, which took place the week after the Six Kings Slam. That was not surprising, as Rune was the only one of the six men to play so soon after the exhibition in Saudi Arabia.
It turns out Medvedev's underwhelming performance against Sinner, and his withdrawal from the Vienna Open was also due to a shoulder injury that began to trouble the three-time Australian Open runner-up at the Six Kings Slam.
Speaking to the ATP before the Paris Masters, Medvedev said he discovered the shoulder problem was just inflammation, but he did not know how severe the issue might be during his Six Kings Slam match against Sinner.
"The sore shoulder was finally not a big deal. It was a bit unfortunate bcuz I could only know this after the match. After the match when I knew it was just some kind of inflammation, you could have got through it, manage the pain and it would not have made it worse."
"What I was scared of during the match was making it worse. So, it was gone in like three or four days of physio treatment. Now, I'm feeling good, feeling ready, practicing. Let's see what first match brings to me."
Medvedev faces a challenging opening round at the Paris Masters. He will need to overcome Alexei Popyrin to make the round of 16. The Australian had a stunning run to the Canadian Open title and also defeated Novak Djokovic at the US Open.
Surprisingly, Medvedev has not won a title since May 2023 at the Italian Open on clay, his least favorite surface. The poor recent record of the former US Open champion against Sinner and Alcaraz is the biggest reason for that.
Jannik Sinner's withdrawal from the Paris Masters might give Medvedev some hope of ending what is a long title drought for someone of his outstanding quality.
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