French Open preview: Daniil Medvedev. Is Dani Medvedev among the favourites for the Grand Slam after his Rome triumph?

The turn of May and June is reserved in the tennis world for the French Open. The second Grand Slam of the season is hosted by Paris and the Musketeers’ Cup is traditionally contested by the world’s top players. Let’s take a look at the biggest favourites for the only clay grand slam on the circuit.

The first round of Roland Garros will begin on Sunday 28 May. This time, the top event of the clay court part of the season must do without Rafael Nadal, the record holder for the most titles at the Paris Grand Slam. In our initial preview, we looked at the ambitions of last year’s semi-finalist Alexander Zverev. World No. 7 Andrey Rublyov of Russia was also given his chance .

Daniil Medvedev

What is more praised about the game of the nearly two-meter tall Russian than his individual strokes are his tactical skills. He can adapt his game to whoever is on the other side of the court. And not all players can do that. With his height, he’s also one of the best serving players.

The Moscow native is able to continuously return the ball to his opponent’s half of the court with quality strokes. Until he doesn’t. And there’s one more weapon we mustn’t forget. It’s Medvedev’s return. In the statistics associated with this shot, he is unbeatable, an impressive almost 50% of the fresh world number two’s break points.

The lanky Russian knows what it’s like to win a Grand Slam. He triumphed at the 2021 US Open. At the Australian Open, his best is a double in the final. Medvedev’s best performance at Roland Garros is only the quarterfinals.

Two years ago, he finished at this plateau on Tsitsipas’ racket. Then the Greek did not allow his opponent to gain even one set. Last year, he was knocked out here by Croatian Marin Cilic one round earlier. Daniil Medvedev also did not win a single set against the later semifinalist.

The clay is not his favourite tennis surface. The 27-year-old Russian openly admits that. His game is not suited to this traditional surface and he has to change his basic strokes slightly. As he says himself, on a hard surface after mistakes he at least knows what he did wrong. But everything is evolving and the last matches at the Rome tournament could also indicate Medvedev’s attitude towards the slowest surface.

Current form

The opening two clay events for him this year ended with identical 2:1 records. His conquerors were Rune in Monte Carlo and Karacev in Madrid. Among the victories, the duel against Zverev, the former world number two, is definitely the most valuable. Medvedev won it after a great fight 3::6, 7::5, 7::6

Daniil Medvedev’s form is growing as the French Open approaches. At the last major in Rome, he won his third match on clay for the first time. He beat the German Zverev again, this time without losing a set. The surprise of the tournament, Germany’s Hanfmann, played only four games against the up-and-coming Russian.

Daniil Medvedev’s semi-final opponent was Greece’s Tsitsipas. The Russian tennis player showed good concentration when, after a long break due to rain, he took the first set 7::5 at the end and won the second set by the same ratio. Medvedev thus reached the final match after four years.

His opponent in the last match in Rome was the young man with a form like thunder Holger Rune. In a match rather rich in long exchanges, the first loss of serve came in the twelfth game of the first set.

And it was the young Dane who lost his serve and the first set. In the second set the Russian lost his serve twice and at 3::5 everything was heading for a deciding set. But the Moscow native won four games in a row and has his first clay title.

Conclusion

Two weeks ago, the assessment of Daniil Medvedev’s ambitions at Roland Garros would have been more modest. However, at the ATP Masters in Rome he showed that he can win on clay as well. He was unbeatable there and won his fifth title this year.

At the French Open he will probably face opponents against whom he will not be a favourite. However, that may not happen until the latter stages of the Paris Grand Slam and anything can happen there given Medvedev’s form.

Sources: ATP