Daniil Medvedev had one of the most challenging seasons of his career in 2024, and he knows improving against Jannik Sinner is critical to winning big titles again.
The 2021 US Open champion seemed mentally drained at the ATP Finals. He admitted to not having the same desire in the season's closing stages because of the balls used at tournaments.
Medvedev has criticized them for being much slower than in the past and feels they suit powerful hitters from the baseline, like Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, since they can hit through the court more easily.
That might partially explain Medvedev's recent record against Sinner. He initially dominated the Italian by winning their first six meetings but has since lost nine consecutive hard-court matches to the 23-year-old.
Sinner's significant improvements this season also explain his recent dominance. He won the Australian Open, US Open, and ATP Finals to become the year-end No. 1 in the ATP rankings.
Despite how much Medvedev seemed to be struggling mentally towards the end of 2024, the six-time Grand Slam finalist is determined to improve his game for next season to become more competitive against Sinner.
The 28-year-old added former world No. 6 Gilles Simon to his team last year, but the Frenchman did not have much of an impact during a season when Medvedev failed to win a single title.
However, in an interview with Kommersant, Medvedev said he would work with Simon and the rest of his current team to devise a strategy for coping better with the balls used and to find a way of beating Sinner.
"Yes. This year has been tough. Because of the Olympics, there was less time for deep work in training, so it was difficult for Simon to make a big contribution to my preparation right away."
"He tried to do it little by little, mainly at the Grand Slam tournaments, but you can’t change anything globally there. This year, Simon and I got to know each other better, we got to know each other well."
"He tried to do it little by little, mainly at the Grand Slam tournaments, but you can’t change anything globally there. This year, Simon and I got to know each other better, we got to know each other well. But I need to try to find a way to beat Jannik Sinner again, to whom I’ve lost so many times in recent months."
Medvedev was concerned after feeling as though he had not learned anything from some defeats this year, and wants to rectify that by working out how to improve during the off-season.
"They often say that defeats teach you. Well, I’ve had a few defeats this year, after which I left the court and realised that I hadn’t learned anything. It was like that in the summer at the Montreal and Cincinnati Masters. It was hard to switch to hard immediately after playing on clay at the Olympics."
"And before the Parisian clay, there was the grass of Wimbledon. But I still don’t regret going to the Olympics at all. It was a good, necessary experience."
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