With his position secured for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, Daniil Medvedev has the luxury of watching the last remaining contenders fight it out for the final two berths as the Tour heads to Paris this week. While the defending Rolex Paris Masters champion cannot afford to look too far forward, he admits he does keep an eye on the FedEx ATP Race To Turin.
We finally made it 🤣 // Мы это сделали 🤣 @DjokerNole @LACOSTE pic.twitter.com/MXXM4zDQm1
— Daniil Medvedev (@DaniilMedwed) October 28, 2021
“I do follow the Race, but not because I care who to play, honestly, but because it’s just so fun that [three] guys have big chances,” Medvedev said. “Casper [Ruud] just went a little bit in front, so I think he has quite good chances, but it’s never sure, especially with still two tournaments coming up, Stockholm included, and of course Paris being the biggest one.
“They can all make big points. They can all lose first rounds, and we have some other guys even behind them who can still win Paris-Bercy and get there. It’s super interesting, and I’m sure we’re gonna see all of them in Stockholm, and I think that’s when the Race is interesting.”
Medvedev recovered from a set down to defeat Alexander Zverev for his third ATP Masters 1000 crown in Paris last season before he went on to capture the Nitto ATP Finals in London. This year, he has gone from strength to strength as he ascended to World No. 2 with victory in Marseille, added a first grass-court title in Mallorca, a fourth Masters 1000 trophy in Toronto and his maiden Grand Slam title in New York.
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“I have three tournaments ahead of me, two tournaments where there are points to grasp. Honestly, I want to win every tournament, because I know that I can do it. Maybe less on other surfaces, but this is my aim anyway,” Medvedev said.
“I managed to do that last year [win in Paris and at The O2]. It was wonderful, but it’s not easy. There are a lot of wonderful players. [Alexander] Zverev is in great shape, Novak is always a tough player, he’s always a favourite when he plays.”
While it is rare that the Top 2-ranked men share a practice court, Medvedev and Djokovic did just that recently in a training session on the French Riviera ahead of the Rolex Paris Masters. The pair had not crossed paths since Medvedev defeated Djokovic for his maiden Slam title at the US Open.
“Since I have become Top 10, I haven’t played him in training sessions. I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know if he had trained a lot or not,” Medvedev said.
“I had anticipated this as a good training session and it was wonderful. We played for two hours, one set, and it was great. Then we talked for 15, 20 minutes, I love talking with him. I think I can say that he’s a friend… It’s really seldom that No. 1 and No. 2 have a training session together.”