Oh yes, Medvedev is back! 2 titles in 2 weeks, and the game is again aggressive – this is even more important

Found the rhythm.

Daniil Medvedev suffered exactly a year after the defeat in the final of the Australian Open 2022, and the torment ended with a defeat in the third round of the 2023 tournament and relegation from the top 10. But after that, he seemed to be freed.

Over the past two weeks, the Russian took two titles – the 16th and 17th in his career. On Saturday, he won in Doha, beating the great Andy Murray in the final – 6:4, 6:4.

The Briton fought heroically until the decisive match – in two rounds he played eight match points, taking all four matches in three sets. And against Daniil, he almost left the double break in the first game and won back the break in the second, but in the end Medvedev still turned out to be stronger.

Over the past two weeks, Daniil has earned 750 points – in this regard, he had the most successful segment since he reached the final of the Australian Open.

These points are more than a fifth of his rating. On Monday, he will have 3,320 and become world No. 7, beating Rafael Nadal.

Nine wins in a row in Rotterdam and Doha is the longest streak for a Russian since the end of 2021, when he won the US Open and two matches in Indian Wells.

It is also important that in these two weeks he has two wins over the top 10 – however, both over Felix Auger-Aliassime, with whom he is now 6-0 in a personal. But before that, Daniel had not won the top ten for more than a year.

And most important of all is the game that Medvedev is now showing.

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1. Aggression has returned to Medvedev’s tennis. He obviously aims to grab the back line and dictate. Here is an example.

Daniil got a slightly soft ball under the left and immediately invested – and then immediately moved forward and scored a forehand.

2. And on the right, he generally invested very, very sincerely from time to time. Especially when he had a position for this – a comfortable ball, an open corridor or a good corner.

3. Tenacity returned to Daniel’s game – though not always. With a score of 4:1 in the first set, he gave a double on a break point, and with a score of 3:2 in the second set, he did not score a short ball and paid on the net.

But in general, at key moments, Medvedev always found something tasty. Basically the first serve.

And this stroke, with which he saved a break point at the beginning of the second set, is generally magic.

4. A pleasant spirit of adventurism has returned to Medvedev’s game. For example, he remembered the old entertainment – serving from the sideline.

True, in this particular case, he opened a wide corridor for Murray to receive and then made a mistake on the left. But in general, the readiness to invent something so that the opponent does not get used to what is happening on the court is an important feature of Daniil’s best form.