By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Sunday, July 7, 2024
An anticipated fourth round matchup at Wimbledon unfortunately ended early as Danill Medvedev advanced by walkover over an injured Grigor Dimitrov.
The fifth seeded Medvedev moved into the quarterfinals after the No. 10 seed Dimitrov suffered a leg injury midway through their first set.
The 33-year-old Bulgarian after receiving a medical time out, tried to continue but the pain was too much. Dimitrov soon retired trailing 3-5 in the open set. Medvedev share a long exchange with Dimitrov up at net as he offered his condolences.
“With Grigor I told him this up at net we have so many great matches, great points, great three setters and sometimes he wins, and sometimes I win so I was looking forward to playing him. We started well, well I didn’t, but the points were great. And I don’t know at which moment he felt it and I felt sorry because you try some game but he probably couldn’t go on. Tough one and so I hope it’s nothing serious.”
Now with some extra time, Medvedev can prepare and rest up for yet another anticipated encounter - this time against World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the last eight for his 10th career major quarterfinal.
So far in 2024, Medevev has come up short against the Italian in two matches. That includes the Australian Open final where Sinner rallied from two sets to love down to defeat the Russian and claim his first ever major title. After losing badly to Sinner later this season in the Miami semifinals, the 28-year-old Medvedev is certainly looking forward to turning things around against Sinner to whom he’s lost their last five matches.
Medvedev’s last win against Sinner came in the Miami final last year. At the time it was the Russian's sixth consecutive victory against Sinner, but the tone of the rivalry has changed dramatically since.
“(I) need to play my best tennis," Medvedev said in his on-court interview. "He’s got me like I think five last times so. Actually, if I'm not mistaken, four of them are really tough and the last one he kind of won easy. So I'm gonna trying to play my best tennis. It's the first time we meet on grass. I'm sure it's gonna be an interesting battle. Interesting match. I'm gonna prepare it well and go there to give 100%.”
Later in press, Medvedev was asked what about Sinner now as a player makes him so difficult to beat.
“He plays better. He misses less," Medvedev said. "When Jannik came on tour, straightaway everyone was a little bit, not shocked but like how strong he hits, how he can run fast and hit strong from every position of the court. But he was missing a lot and hence, losing a lot some matches. As soon as he stopped missing less, well, now it's very tough to beat him for anyone. Not only for me. That's why he's No. 1 in the world."
Their quarterfinal clash marks the first time that Medvedev will face Sinner as he holds the No.1 ranking. The Italian has won all ten of his matches since rising to No.1, but the 28-year-old hopes that Sinner's ranking might be a good luck charm for him.
"I do think, if I'm not mistaken, by statistics I usually play better against No. 1s in the world than maybe some other guys," Medvedev said. "Let's see if it helps me against Jannik. But, again, yeah, he misses less, serves much better. His serve was not as good before. Small details makes big difference in tennis. It's definitely tougher to play him now than before.
"The matches were close. I had my chances. I'll try to use them better this time.”
Photo Credit: Francois Nel/Getty Images