He’s a US Open champion. He’s one of only four players who have beaten No. 1 Jannik Sinner this year. Besides Novak Djokovic, this player has also reached more Grand Slam men’s singles finals than any man in the draw.
But fifth seed Daniil Medvedev still isn’t mentioned among the top favorites at the 2024 US Open. Sinner, four-time US Open champion Djokovic and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz dominate that conversation.
For Medvedev and his long-time coach Gilles Cervara, though, that’s OK.
“He's maybe underrated, but I would say it's a bit normal, because the last few weeks, he hasn't played good enough to be one of the three favorites for the title,” Cervara told USOpen.org.
Medvedev went 0-2 in Toronto and Cincinnati in the hard-court lead-up to the US Open. But since 2018, no man has won more matches or reached more finals on hard courts than Medvedev.
And as he kicks off his stay in New York, the 2021 US Open champion and his team aren’t bothered by being overlooked. They know what to expect–and what they need to do–to finish on top again at their favorite tournament.
“We know exactly how it can be, match after match. So I'm not, absolutely not focused on this, Daniil is not focused on this also. Even if probably he wants to prove that he’s still there and still able to win a tournament like this,” Cervara said.
It has been three years since Medvedev won a tournament like this. He ended Djokovic’s chances at a calendar-year Grand Slam in the 2021 US Open final with a straight-sets win.
That was Medvedev’s third major championship final, and since then, he has reached three more Grand Slam finals: two in Australia and last year in New York. But he’s finished runner-up every time except against Djokovic three years ago and has a 1-5 record in Grand Slam finals.
Some look at that mark and say he’s let slip opportunities. They especially point to his past two Australian Open finals, when Medvedev led two sets to zero against Rafael Nadal (2022) and Sinner (2024).
Hall of Famer Andy Roddick, however, has an entirely different opinion of Medvedev. The 2003 US Open champion and former No. 1 places Medvedev above himself in the conversation about the best players who have won a major title but never a second.
“Medvedev is one of my favorite players. I can’t express the amount of respect that I have for what he has gotten from his career,” Roddick said on his podcast, Served with Andy Roddick.
“He is phenomenal. Beaten Top 5 players in Slams, been No. 1 himself, won 20 tournaments, 20 different tournaments. On his weaker surfaces, has now figured out a way. I love Daniil Medvedev.”
Grand Slams have been the bright spot for Medvedev in what otherwise has been a spotty season for the 28-year-old’s world-class standards. He’s 35-13, which already matches the number of losses he had in 2021.
Since he won his first title at 2018 Sydney, Medvedev hasn’t gone this deep into a season without winning a title since the COVID-interrupted campaign of 2020.
But at some of the biggest tournaments, Medvedev has thrived. He made the finals at the Australian Open and Indian Wells, and the semifinals at Dubai, Miami and Wimbledon.
“It's a strange, strange, strange year,” Cervara said. “He had a good result [in the] Grand Slams, but it was an unstable or irregular season.”
Medvedev’s recent level of play isn’t pointing to back-to-back US Open final runs, but his coach said he has two things especially in his favor in Flushing Meadows: the fast hard courts and the New York vibes.
“The surface makes his game very, very efficient,” Cervara said. “Daniil, as you know, is a bit crazy. And I think the crazy atmosphere here opens up this, turns on this, this craziness inside himself also, and makes him play better.
“Each player needs to know exactly what is a good level of emotional or energetic activation to play his best tennis. And I think here in this tournament, that's exactly what Daniil feels here.”
Medvedev agrees, as he has said simply in the past: “I love US Open.”
