Medvedev Not 'Irritated' By Not Getting Spotlight Amid Djokovic vs Alcaraz Rivalry Ahead Of US Open
ATPSaturday, 26 August 2023 at 11:43
Updated at Wednesday, 13 August 2025 at 15:54
Daniil Medvedev is a former champion in New York, but he's not getting much attention compared to Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, and it doesn't bother him.
Medvedev is quite the character, on top of being a really great tennis player with a unique style. The Russian is must-see TV both on the court and in the press conference, and he demonstrated it once more by completely dismissing the suggestion that he's bothered by the lack of attention because of two rivals on the ATP Tour.
As a former US Open champion, Medvedev has been glanced over in the talk of who might win the event this year. This year's Cincinnati Open final between Djokovic and Alcaraz was arguably the best match so far this year.
However, Medvedev doesn't mind that his name is not mentioned so often. He finds the rivalry fascinating and good for tennis.
"No, I think honestly it's great. I think it's great for tennis that we have these two guys playing against each other right now. As I say, it's a great story, but then the tournament starts and hopefully we can -- when I say 'we', me personally or someone else -- we're going to try to beat them and stop them from playing each other."
"But again, doesn't irritate me at all because I always said that sometimes we have this overrated, underrated, right, usually in social media. You go on Instagram and everyone after every match is like, He's overrated, He's underrated. That's their favorite thing to say."
Further, Medvedev broke down the unique aspects of tennis and how it compares to other sports. To him, it's pretty normal to talk about the No. 1 player in the world and the No. 2 player in the world ahead of one of the biggest tennis events on the calendar.
"In my opinion, tennis is one of sports where you almost can say this. Football, it's 11 against 11. Even if the team wins, you can always say something about the players. Tennis is one against one. We have rankings, 52 weeks, unless someone was injured, that's the ranking you have, done."
"Now they're 1, 2 by the margin. I think they are maybe a thousand, 500 points ahead of me. I'm No. 3 by the margin. There's no one behind me, at least that close, if I remember it right. I think that's normal we talk about them. I do think we still talk about me. I'm not feeling too bad, but I'm going to try. The goal is, after this US Open, that we talk about me, so I'm going to try to do it."
Even so, Medvedev is highly motivated to end the dominance of Djokovic and Alcaraz and is capable of it. He showed it early this year by winning several big events in a row.
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