Daniil Medvedev coach Gilles Cervara believes that his charge can take a leaf out of 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic’s playbook.
The Frenchman highlighted the fact that Djokovic focuses only on the most important tourneys but pressed that players cannot copy this blueprint without being successful.
Medvedev maintains a 64-15 (81%) record in 2023 season and has racked up 5 ATP titles during the campaign which also includes for final appearances. The lanky Russian is a titlist at Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai, Rome and Miami.
The World #3 finished runner up at the New York major earlier in September where he fell to Novak Djokovic in a rematch of 2021 final he won in straight sets. The Serbian evened the score by edging him in the straight sets to win the third Grand Slam of the season.
The 27-year-old will be participating in his 21st event of the 2023 campaign at this week’s Paris-Bercy. He will be up against Grigor Dimitrov on Wednesday in a rematch of Vienna Open R2 encounter last week which he won in three sets. He was defeated by #4 seed Italian Jannik Sinner in an enthralling final on Sunday.
Talking to Italian tennis media Ubitennis, Cervara was asked whether Medvedev can consider dropping his tournament count on the tour, given he has already crossed the 80 match threshold in 2023.
“It’s a good question, and it’s a question that only top players when they have more experience can afford to ask themselves. A bit like Novak, who now does not play all the tournaments and focuses only on the most important ones,” said the coach.
“But you can afford to make these considerations only if you win and it’s a question we will start to ask ourselves also with Daniil. He is now 27 years old, runs a lot, has a taxing tennis game. He has already won the most important tournaments and consequently, he will have to focus on those and perhaps set aside some lesser ones.”
The long-time Medvedev coach also discussed the challenge of helping Medvedev following his R3 loss against Sebastian Korda at this year’s Australian Open edition.
“That period was difficult, after the Australian Open, it was complicated as a coach. I told Daniil at the time that it was not a disgrace to lose to Korda, who was playing well,” said Cervara
“And perhaps Daniil at the same time was not at 100% and was not able to beat that day’s version of Korda, but in any case, there was nothing to be ashamed of. The important thing was to remain calm and analyse why we had lost against that type of player, what had put Daniil in difficulty and work on it to rebuild confidence.
“But it’s not automatic, otherwise, it would be easy. At those times the challenge for a coach is precisely to rebuild the player’s confidence – this is something you do day by day, and every day was a challenge and it was not easy. You need to maintain a fighting spirit, look for solutions, and accept the moments of difficulty, continued Cervara.
“I am happy to have remained strong, to have maintained trust and inner calm to try to be the best version of myself and the best possible coach at that time. Daniil is someone who wants to fight, find solutions and win, even when he goes crazy on the court.
“We both tried to do our best and since he has great talent and has the ability to reach a high level, so in the end he found the way back to winning and to being ‘on fire’, a bit like Sinner now, who is putting together a series of victories.”
After concluding his Paris campaign, Medvedev will make his fifth successive appearance at Year-end ATP Finals, scheduled to be hosted in Turin later this month.