Medvedev crashes out of Monte Carlo Masters early

Another tough day on the clay for the Russian tennis player, Daniil Medvedev, as he suffered a humiliating 6-0 6-0 defeat in the first round of the Monte Carlo Masters to Italian Wildcard, Matteo Berrettini. The match lasted only 49 minutes (the second shortest match in the tournament’s history) and was the first time in Medvedev’s career he had fallen victim to the ‘double bagel’.

Medvedev certainly didn’t try to contain his anger, smashing his racket seven times throughout the match

The current world no.10 endured an extremely frustrating afternoon and performed miles away from the top of his game. Medvedev had five double-faults to Berrettini’s zero, put on 36% of his first serves in play to Berrettini’s 65% and won only 17 of 67 points. Medvedev certainly didn’t try to contain his anger, smashing his racket seven times throughout the match. The Russian is well-known for his infamous on-court behaviour, having been fined $42,500 last year at the US Open after having a complete meltdown during a first-round loss after a photographer wandered onto the court during the match. Another hefty fine will certainly be coming Medvedev’s way after one of his rackets was divided in two.

Throughout his tennis career, Medvedev has openly communicated his sheer dislike of playing on clay. He stated in 2021 that ‘there’s nothing I like on clay. There’s always bad bounces, you’re dirty after playing. I really don’t enjoy playing on clay.’ His record on the orange court conveys this as the Russian has never advanced past the third round at either the Monte Carlo Masters or the Madrid Open – both on clay. In fact, the quarter finals is the furthest Medvedev has reached at Roland Garros, the only major tournament played on clay, which is underwhelming compared to his tournament record on other surfaces.

It is evident that Medvedev’s style of play severely hinders his performance on clay

It is evident that Medvedev’s style of play severely hinders his performance on the surface. His forehands and backhands are played very flat and with very little top spin in comparison to other players. Applying high levels of top spin proves to be highly beneficial whilst on clay in that shots will bounce higher, kick serves will kick out really wide and slices tend to remain low and die out quickly. This illustrates why players utilise this technique are much more successful on this surface such as Rafael Nadal.

Berrettini was impressive and appeared highly satisfied with his game

Despite a disastrous display from Medvedev, Berrettini was impressive and appeared highly satisfied with his game, describing it as ‘one of the best performances’ of his career.The current world no.90 has recently struggled to regain his peak form after picking up injuries and missing out on three of the last four majors. However, Berrettini does have an impressive record on clay, with a win to loss ratio of 69:28 on the surface, and perhaps this result will provide him with some much-needed confidence and belief.

Does this make Medvedev’s performance even more worrying? He played someone who was eighty places below him in the ATP rankings and an opponent not playing to his full potential. With Roland Garros and Wimbledon fast approaching, the Russian will need to regroup quickly if he is to get to the latter stages of those tournaments, eager to improve his performance at the majors after only claiming one title five years ago. For Medvedev, he probably can’t wait for game, set and match to be called on the clay court season and for his much-preferred grass court era to commence.