“Problem was execution, too many mistakes”: Daniil Medvedev reflects on defeat against Jannik Sinner in Miami SFs

Miami [US], March 30 (ANI): The World No.4 Daniil Medvedev, who suffered a defeat against Jannik Sinner in the semi-final of the ongoing Miami Open, made an honest analysis of his performance against the Italian.

Sinner defeated Medvedev in the Miami Open semifinals on Saturday for his fifth consecutive triumph. The Italian, who trailed 0-6 in their head-to-head, improved his record to 5-6, still in Medvedev’s favour. Sinner had a faultless performance, defeating the defending champion 6-1, 6-2 in just over an hour.

The World No. 4, who had previously lost to Sinner in the Australian Open final earlier this year, stated that he did not believe the Italian’s form had improved from where it had been all season. Medvedev claimed that his bad performance was to blame for the unusual scoreline. “My plan was to play aggressive kind of like in Australia, a bit more aggressive than I usually do, and it’s always a risk. Because even if I practise this on practice courts, my game is like counter, defensive style. But I felt like against him, and that’s why I did it in Australia, this might not be not enough anymore, and that’s why the head-to-head is a little bit worse than it was a couple of months ago,” Medvedev said as quoted by ATP.

The Russian believed the strategies he used at the beginning of the match were not the issue however the difficulty was the execution; there were too many faults and not enough accuracy which led to his loss in the semis. “I think the tactics I used in the beginning of the match was not the problem. The problem was the execution, too many mistakes, not enough precision,” he said.

“So for sure after a match like this, I’m asking myself if I should have changed it earlier, but I stuck to what I thought was going to work, and I wanted to do it better and I didn’t manage to do it. When I changed, it was just too late… When I have the next match against him, I’m going to see what I do and how I develop,” Medvedev said.

Since his stunning victory in Rome last May, Medvedev has not won a tour-level tournament. On that front, the 28-year-old maintains a positive attitude, recognising the quality of tournaments in which he has competed.

“I’m trying to play the best tournaments in the world. I think if we look tournament by tournament, I’m losing against big players. I have been in some finals and I lost against Sinner, Djokovic, Alcaraz — and for sure I want to beat them and, let’s say, be better than them. But I didn’t manage to do it and I have to work on it either mentally or tennis-wise,” he said.

“For example, on clay I’m going to play Monte-Carlo, Rome, Madrid and Roland Garros. It might be tough to get a title there, but if I would play 10 [ATP] 250s a year, I’d probably get some titles. Never be too confident, but I’m sure I would be able to. But I’m trying to play the best tournaments in the world,” the World No. 4 said.