Fast Tracks Trip First-Round Crashes

By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Photo credit: ABN AMRO Open Facebook

Daniil Medvedev couldn’t navigate rush hour in Paris today.

Alexei Popyrin toppled Medvedev 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(4), sending the two-time finalist to his third straight first-round exit at the Rolex Paris Masters.

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World No. 5 Medvedev has won 18 of his 20 career championships on hard courts, but lately his favorite surface has been a rocky road.

This is Medvedev’s third opening-round exit in his last six ATP events following successive first-round losses in Montreal and Cincinnati.

The 2021 US Open champion cites the fast track—Paris and Cincinnati are the two fastest hard courts on tour this season—and ball variance have both been contributing factors to those first-round crashes.

Because Medvedev returns from so deep in the court he can be more vulnerable to opponents who can close net on fast courts. Today, Popyrin won 21 of 31 trips to net. Overall, Medvedev won more points (110 to 107), but Popyrin was more assertive on pivotal points.

“The court I think was, like, fine. Yeah, maybe, when I say a bit too fast, when it’s the fastest on tour, you can feel it, everyone can feel it, so we’re like a bit of surprised,” Medvedev told the media in Paris. “We need time to adapt to it.

“I have a bigger problem on tour. You know, some players get advantaged by it; some players disadvantaged. It’s okay. It can happen. But it’s big disadvantage for me.”

The 6’6″ Medvedev believes the fast track blunts his counter-strike skills and recent results support that theory.

Another issue for Medvedev: Even when he prevails in first-rounders on fast hard courts, the matches are often physically demanding which can drain him in the later rounds.

At the Australian Open in January, Medvedev built a two-set lead before Jannik Sinner rallied, roaring back to capture his maiden major title in Melbourne.

“First rounds are always very tough for me, because now the matches I was winning before maybe 3-3, I cannot do it anymore,” Medvedev said. “Every match I play I have to fight. I have to win 7-6 in the third. And sometimes I lose.

“Yeah, that’s a reality. It’s the most first-round exits for me since probably 2018, I would guess, or maybe even further, on hard courts. And there is a reason for this.”

Of course, you can argue variance in court surface speed is good for the game in that faster courts can reward more aggressive play.

Medvedev will arrive in Turin for next month’s ATP Finals seeing both his first title since 2023 Rome on red clay and his confidence on what is normally his hard-court comfort zone.

“I’m going to arrive I have no confidence, but try to build it, practice, the practice time I have,” Medvedev said. “Everything super important. So I don’t know what is more important, because yeah, you play tough players.

“If mentally you are like today you lose 7-6 in the third, maybe physically — well, physically I was feeling not too bad, but physically you need to be good because you are going to play players that are ready physically.

“And tennis still needs to be good. You need to make a return winner when you need to, et cetera. So everything is important.”