We’re only in the middle of the tennis “offseason,” but a “preseason” exhibition tournament–the Diriyah Tennis Cup–took place in Saudi Arabia over the weekend. None other than Daniil Medvedev, one of the breakout stars in 2019, emerged victorious in the eight-man field. Medvedev followed up wins over Jan-Lennard Struff and David Goffin by beating Fabio Fognini 6-2, 6-2 in Saturday’s championship match.
The 23-year-old Russian did not lose more than three games in any set during his three matches.
“I am very happy to be first who won here,” Medvedev said of the inaugural tournament. “If it’s going to go for example twenty years, it will be very cool to be the first one. I just tried to give my best, do my job and entertaining the crowd a little bit. The crowd was not that big but people were cheering and the ceremony it was really amazing and cool. So I have just great memories.
“Of course I always try to serve as good as I can and that was a big strength of my match today.”
John Isner won the consolation bracket, recovering from an opening setback against Fognini to find some success. The 6’10” American defeated Stan Wawrinka to reach the consolation final before outlasting Struff 4-6, 7-5, 13-11.
“The beauty of this event is that I got two more matches after losing on the opening day and having a chance to beat Stan and Jan-Lennard in two good wins,” Isner commented. “It was perfect preparation to start my season.“
nice one, Meddy
the final…did not look too intense!
Too many “Cups”! I’m waiting for the announcement of the Cup of Cups.
Med already setting the pace for 2020!!!