Daniil Medvedev hopes sliding improvement on clay will bring first win after 0-3 start at Italian Open

For a former world No. 1 and Grand Slam winner, Daniil Medvedev has an unwanted record against his name that sticks out. At the Italian Open, which is one of the nine Masters 1000 events on tour – behind only Grand Slams and the Nitto ATP Finals in terms of prestige – Medvedev has never won a match.

Ad In three appearances in Rome he has lost his opener every time. In 2018 he lost in three sets to world No. 44 Robin Haase, in 2019 he lost in three to Nick Kyrgios, and last time out in 2021 he was beaten 6-2 6-4 by fellow Russian Aslan Karatsev.

ATP MadridMedvedev dumped out after losing to Karatsev in incident-filled match, Zhang stuns Fritz02/05/2023 AT 12:41 Even for a player who has not hidden how uncomfortable and unhappy he can be on clay, three defeats in three outings makes for tough reading. Medvedev is, however, hopeful he can get on the board at the tournament this week. “I feel great physically.

Every day I'm trying to put [together a] strong session and try to work on small things with my coach,” he said ahead of the tournament. “It has been working great, so I'm looking forward to try and play the same in the matches because it's never the same. “These two days [practising], I was playing really good clay tennis.

I was not missing many balls here these last two days. It was tough for my opponents. «Again, you never know.

I say all this, but maybe first match it’s not the case. But it’s good to have some good practice. I was really happy about it.” Medvedev’s flat shots are not as effective on clay as they are hard on courts, plus the movement and sliding required to be successful is very different to the fast hard courts he grew up on.