By Chris Oddo | Monday August 11, 2025
What occurred to Daniil Medvedev? Bear in mind the previous World No.1, the man who stood tall in opposition to the Massive Three and racked up titles on onerous courts like they had been going out of favor? Has anybody seen that man?
There wouldn’t be a sighting in Cincinnati, the place Medvedev appeared as a shell of his former self as he wilted in defeat to Australia’s Adam Walton on Sunday, 6-7 6-4 6-1.
It’s simply odd to see the previous juggernaut at No.15 on this planet, carrying a report of 26-17 for the season. Some of the fascinating, personable gamers on the ATP Tour, who earned his nickname the “slim reaper” due to his wiry body and uncanny potential to outlast gamers along with his trademark accuracy and resiliency, is barely 29 years outdated. It’s not like he’s Kei Nishikori at 35 and on the way in which out, or Gael Monfils at 38.
Medvedev is 1-3 on the Grand Slams in 2025, and 11-7 on the Masters occasions. It is a participant who gained greater than 60 matches in 2021 and 2023, and reached six main finals between 2019 and 2024. However he’s gone 12-20 in opposition to the High-20 because the begin of 2024, so his lack of success in opposition to the elite now not comes as shock.
Medvedev was a number of video games from profitable yesterday’s match with Walton, however the excessive warmth zapped him. He was struggling throughout courtside changeovers, dunking his head in a water cooler and sitting beneath an ice pack. On court docket he had nothing to present within the deciding set. It occurs, but it surely shouldn’t. No excuses, that is the kind of issue he has pushed by way of in earlier years, as he turned top-of-the-line onerous court docket gamers in tennis.
The 2021 US Open champion will head to the US Open subsequent, the place he’s 33-7 lifetime. If a dose of New York power can’t deliver his sport to life, we must always all be frightened.
