Seeing is believing.
Novak Djokovic has seen the evolution of Daniil Medvedev's game and believes the eighth-ranked Russian is headed for the Top 5—and is a US Open contender.
More: Medvedev Stuns Djokovic in Cincinnati
"He deserves to be in the mix, certainly, with all his results," Djokovic said after losing to Medvedev in the Cincinnati semifinals. "He's working his way to top 5 of the world. He's definitely one of the best players in the world at this moment.
"He deserves to be in the contention for the championship in New York. But again, it's best of five. It's two weeks. It's Grand Slam. It's a different environment, different experience. It just takes, you know, much more, I think, than just your game. I think it takes patience and ability to know how to deal with all the off-court things, the importance of a slam."
Medvedev leads the ATP in total wins (43) and hard-court victories (30) and charged to his third consecutive final after falling to Nick Kyrgios in the Washington, D.C. final and losing to Rafael Nadal in the Montreal final last week.
The 23-year-old Russian scored his second straight win over the 16-time Grand Slam champion following his three-set Monte-Carlo conquest of Djokovic last April.
"He certainly improved since Australian Open this year," Djokovic said of Medvedev. "His forehand is better. His movement is better.
"I mean, his serve was always big. You know, again, I did not experience this too many times in my career that someone goes so big on second serve and just serves two first serves basically for extended period of time."
Photo credit: Christopher Levy