(Provided by Tennis World USA)
Daniil Medvedev, 27, admitted he did not believe that he could ever win a clay Masters tournament. On Sunday, Medvedev defeated Holger Rune in the Rome Masters final 7-5 7-5. For Medvedev, that was his 20th ATP title. But for the first time in his career, Medvedev won a clay tournament.
Medvedev’s first clay title came in some style as the Russian won a title on the big stage.
Medvedev on finally winning his first clay tournament
“I always want to believe in myself, I always try to do my best and I want to win the biggest tournaments in the world.
At the same time, honestly, I didn’t believe I could win a Masters 1000 on clay in my career because usually I hated it. Before this tournament, already in Madrid and Monte Carlo, I was kind of feeling not too bad. I didn’t throw any big tantrums.
I was like, okay, you know, guys playing better than me beat me there. Coming here, I felt amazing on this surface. Like I felt so good. I told my coach who came a little bit later that I don’t know what’s happening, but I feel amazing.
Let’s see how it goes,” Medvedev said, per Sportskeeda. Even though Medvedev now likes clay more, the Russian highlighted that hard courts remain his favorite. “I don’t think I love it (clay). I love hard courts (my only love) but I definitely like clay courts much more now,” Medvedev said.
Medvedev will now head to the French Open full of confidence and certainly aiming to deliver his best-ever result at Roland Garros this year. Medvedev’s best French Open result came in 2021, when the Russian made the quarterfinal before losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas.
But Medvedev is looking better than ever on clay and it will be interesting to see how the Russian does at the French Open this year.
