Daniil Medvedev went through all of the emotions at the Mutua Madrid Open on Wednesday.
Playing on by far his worst surface, Medvedev lost the first set of his first match at this week’s Masters 1000 event–6-4 to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. And he wasn’t happy about it either. After throwing a minor temper tantrum, the third-ranked Russian was told by the chair umpire not to damage the clay with his racket.
In somewhat typical Medvedev fashion, he responded by saying that that he couldn’t damage the clay any further because it is already a damaged surface by nature.
Somehow, though, Medvedev battled back to post an impressive 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over an in-form Davidovich Fokina. The No. 2 seed recovered from his slow start to advance after two hours and 13 minutes.
Instead of breaking the clay, the only thing Medvedev broke was a six-match losing streak on this surface. He had not picked up a single win on the red stuff since making a surprise run to the Barcelona final in 2019.
“I am happy with the win,” Medvedev commented. “The first set wasn’t easy and I thought it was going to be where I had another 25 break points and I wouldn’t win. I finally played quite well and did well in the third set. I think Madrid is a little faster than other clay tournaments, so (it’s) better for my game.”
The 25-year-old’s roller-coaster afternoon at the office ended with a somewhat sarcastic signing of the TV camera.
nice one, Meddy