{"id":299139,"date":"2023-05-22T04:13:09","date_gmt":"2023-05-22T04:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=299139"},"modified":"2023-05-22T05:58:44","modified_gmt":"2023-05-22T05:58:44","slug":"medvedevs-huge-statement-ahead-of-roland-garros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=299139","title":{"rendered":"Medvedev's huge statement ahead of Roland-Garros"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniil Medvedev<\/a> hadn\u2019t won a single match in his three previous appearances at the Italian Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, he\u2019s won the tournament.<\/p>\n

The Russian beat rising Danish player Holger Rune<\/a> 7-5 7-5 to claim the first clay-court trophy of his distinguished career.<\/p>\n

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Medvedev was previously known almost exclusively for his prowess on hard courts, with 18 of his previous 19 titles coming on that surface \u2014 the other was on grass in Mallorca.<\/p>\n

But he now must be considered a contender for Roland-Garros<\/a> which kicks off next week.<\/p>\n

\"Daniil<\/p>\n

There\u2019s room for a new champion in Paris after 14-time winner Rafael Nadal announced on Friday that he would not be competing in the tournament<\/a> because of a lingering hip injury that has sidelined him since January.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I didn\u2019t believe I could win a Masters 1000 on clay in my career because usually, I hate it. I hate playing on it. I don\u2019t feel good on it, like nothing is working,\u201d Medvedev said post-match.<\/p>\n

\u201c[But] before this tournament, in Madrid and Monte Carlo, I was feeling not too bad. I didn\u2019t have any big tantrums.<\/p>\n

"I came here and I felt amazing in practice.<\/p>\n

"I was like, \u2018I don\u2019t know what\u2019s happening, but I feel amazing. Let\u2019s see how it goes'. But then you need to play the toughest opponents in the world to try to make it. And I\u2019m really happy that I managed to do it and prove to myself and everybody that I\u2019m capable of doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/atptour\/status\/1660334947616321539?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Medvedev beat Stefanos Tsitsipas<\/a> in straight sets in the semi finals, to which he celebrated with a little dance.<\/p>\n

Rune, who eliminated six-time Italian champion Novak Djokovic<\/a> in the quarter finals, should also leave the Foro Italico confident for Paris.<\/p>\n

He was also the runner-up to Andrey Rublev at the Monte Carlo Masters last month and then won a clay title in Munich.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe I put too many expectations on me, even though I told myself not to,\u201d Rune said.<\/p>\n

"I served worse today than I did in recent matches. That\u2019s also a big factor because Medvedev, he likes to grind. If he gets a chance to grind, it\u2019s going to be long rallies, as some of the points were.\u201d<\/p>\n

The final started nearly two hours late due to a rain delay \u2014 a day after the Medvedev-Tsitsipas match was interrupted by rain suspensions that lasted over four hours.<\/p>\n

When the new rankings are released this week, Medvedev will rise to No.2 while Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> will return to No.1. Djokovic will drop from No.1 to No.3.<\/p>\n

As a result, Alcaraz, Medvedev and Djokovic will be seeded first, second and third, respectively, at Roland-Garros.<\/p>\n

Watch Roland-Garros 2023 from May 28. Every match ad free and on demand.<\/strong><\/em> Centre court coverage in 4K UHD on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1660080464462495746?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

When Medvedev broke Rune\u2019s serve to win the first set, he did it by producing a blistering backhand return cross-court winner from deep in the corner and then ran down a drop shot with ease to set up a comfortable forehand winner.<\/p>\n

Rune hung his hands on his knees when Medvedev won a draining 21-shot rally midway through the second.<\/p>\n

Medvedev missed two swinging forehand volleys to hand Rune a break and a 4-3 lead in the second but Rune failed to serve it out and Medvedev evened the set at 5-5 and then broke again in the final game.<\/p>\n

When Rune\u2019s forehand was overruled by the chair umpire and called out on Medvedev\u2019s second championship point, Medvedev dropped down to the clay on his knees to celebrate.<\/p>\n

\"Daniil<\/p>\n

Medvedev dropped only one set \u2014 to Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the third round \u2014 over his six matches at the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, who would have thought that I would be standing here? I honestly didn\u2019t,\u201d Medvedev said toward his box during the trophy presentation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know about you guys, but I honestly didn\u2019t think so. But it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daniil Medvedev hadn\u2019t won a single match in his three previous appearances at the Italian Open. Now, he\u2019s won the tournament. The Russian beat rising […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":299141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299139"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=299139"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":299144,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299139\/revisions\/299144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/299141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=299139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=299139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=299139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}