Can you be overrated—or underrated—in tennis? As much as social media might love to use the term, Daniil Medvedev says, the sport's ranking system serves as an objective lens to make things black and white.
While Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic are well ahead of the field as the ATP's top-ranked men, there is also a chasm between No. 3 Medvedev and the rest of the chasing pack.
For that reason, Medvedev does not begrudge Alcaraz and Djokovic the attention they are receiving about their budding rivalry.
"I think honestly it's great. I think it's great for tennis that we have these two guys playing against each other right now," he said Friday at US Open media day.
"It's a great story, but then the tournament starts and hopefully we can—when I say 'we,' me personally or someone else—we're going to try to beat them and stop them from playing each other."
Medvedev's main priority at the moment is winning a second major title to go along with his 2021 US Open crown. But is he relishing the opportunity to be a disruptor by preventing an Alcaraz vs. Djokovic final, and ending the run of five straight majors won by one of those two?
"I don't know, because consciously I don't think about it," he said. "I just try to win. That's the most important.
"But unconsciously, I feel like many times I was playing good in this role. Hopefully it can help me this week, these two weeks."
Medvedev was firmly in the spotlight earlier this season, when he reached five straight hard-court finals and won four titles, including Miami. He later won his first ATP Masters 1000 crown in Rome and advanced to the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time.
While the focus has shifted squarely onto Alcaraz and Djokovic this summer, Medvedev does not feel slighted—though he knows what to do to get the attention back.
"I think that's normal we talk about them," he said. "I do think we still talk about me. I'm not feeling too bad, but I'm going to try. The goal is, after this US Open, that we talk about me, so I'm going to try to do it."
