Medvedev gushes with belief as ‘already won’ gauntlet thrown down to Alcaraz

Daniil Medvedev is full of confidence ahead of his last four tournaments of the season, having “already won” all of them. The world No 3 recently reached the final of the China Open, losing to Jannik Sinner. And he now has his sights set on lifting at least one more trophy before the season ends in a threat to Carlos Alcaraz and other players’ chances of winning titles.

Medvedev is heading into the Shanghai Masters full of belief, coming in off the back of reaching finals at the US Open and – more recently – this week’s ATP 500 event in Beijing. The 27-year-old is known for being dangerous on hard courts, losing just seven matches on the surface this year.

And he is hoping to carry his momentum into Shanghai as the tournament returns for the first time since 2019 – when Medvedev won it. The Russian has a unique stat to his name, as he has won 20 titles at 20 different tournaments, meaning he has never won the same event twice. But he will be hoping to change that in Shanghai, Vienna, Paris-Bercy and at the ATP Finals.

“I hope that I can break that streak because I have four tournaments left to play this year and I have already won all four,” Medvedev said after losing to Sinner in Beijing. “I trust that I can break that streak and win one of them.”

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Medvedev just missed out on winning his 21st title at yet another new tournament, losing in the China Open final. And he is also hoping that he can win every big event on his favourite surface. “As I said yesterday, any tournament in hard court that I haven’t won yet, I would love to have it at some point in my career,” he added.

With the 2023 tennis season nearing its end, Medvedev is as motivated as ever to get another title under his belt, winning five already this year in Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai, Miami and Rome. He continued: “I think everyone is a little tired. We are at the end of the season.

“At the same time, I know very well that when I am in this state of form, reaching finals and playing well, the best thing is not to lose that momentum. I will go to Shanghai and I will try to do my best. I think the balls are different, I don’t know if the courts will be different, but I will need time to adapt. I haven’t seen the draw yet. Do you know who I’m playing against? No, I better look at it now.”

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And the world No 3 wasn’t feeling defeated by his loss to Sinner as he took the positives from a strong week in Beijing. “I’m in good shape. Even today I felt that the match was very good, that there was a great level of tennis. I had to do better if I wanted to win, but it was a great level. I want to continue playing well this season. It’s not over yet, there are a lot of points I can add. Now it’s time to go to Shanghai, give my best and hopefully win the title,” he said.

It means that players like Alcaraz – who is bidding to make up enough ranking points to end the year as the world No 1 – could lose their chance of picking up more titles if Medvedev can win them. With Novak Djokovic also returning in Paris, the world No 3 will try and stop the Serb from winning the last two tournaments of the season. As well as being the most recent winner in Shanghai, Medvedev will be defending the title in Vienna while he won both Paris and the ATP Finals in 2020.

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