Daniil Medvedev rose to number two in the world rankings ahead of the French Open by capturing the Rome title on Sunday and the Russian said his unexpected win on clay counts as one of his most special triumphs.
Heading into Rome, Medvedev had won 18 of his 19 titles - including the 2021 US Open - on hardcourts, with his Mallorca Open victory on grass the same year the only exception.
The 27-year-old, who previously made no secret of his dislike for clay, was a player transformed at the Italian Open and ended the tournament with a 7-5 7-5 win over rising Dane Holger Rune.
Asked where his victory ranked among his many successes, Medvedev told reporters: “In a way, number one, just because it’s the first one on clay and it’s unbelievable.
“I’d never have thought I’d be able to make this. I have to be honest, a Grand Slam is always bigger. The US Open is always number one there.
“This one is special because I didn’t think it was going to happen. I still don’t believe - not that I won it, but I played so well this week.”
Medvedev said using new strings this year had helped his clay game as they were softer and aided his deep groundstrokes. But there were some concerns at the beginning of the year when they did not work as well on the hardcourts in Australia.
“I was 100% doubting myself,” Medvedev said.
“Should I go back to the old ones, I was playing good with it? I said ‘no, let’s try more’. Now it’s unbelievable.”
Medvedev’s title run was his fifth of a standout 2023 season, including Masters 1000 crowns in Miami and Rome.
The 20-time tour-level titlist believes his experience playing under championship-match pressure at Masters 1000 events helped him keep his cool at tough moments against Rune.
“For sure every time you play a big final, it’s an experience,” said Medvedev. “It’s an experience for the next one. For example, both Miami and here, I felt like the start was so-so, then I managed to get into the match more and more and play better and better. “When I played my first (ATP Masters 1000 final, in Montreal in 2019), it was against Rafa [Nadal]. I got destroyed. I started bad, as I kind of started these matches, then I was only playing worse and worse. The next one I managed to win against Goffin [in Cincinnati in 2019]. It was a tight match from both of us. We knew it’s going to be first one for us.
“With experience, I managed to do better in this moment, so maybe that helped. But then in general terms, after Miami, I was feeling confident, good.”
Tennis chiefs pledge roof for
rain-lashed Italian Open
The rain-soaked 2023 edition of the Italian Open might soon be a bad memory with plans announced on Sunday to build a roof over the main showcourt at the Foro Italico.
The structure would be completed by 2026, promised officials.
“The roof is coming,” said Vito Cozzoli, CEO of the Italian government agency Sport e Salute (Sport and Health).
“This will be a futuristic project that will make the Foro Italico’s centre court usable year round.”
Rain played an unwanted role in this year’s tournament. Saturday women’s final only began at 11pm and ended just after midnight thanks only to an injury for Anhelina Kalinina which handed the title to Elena Rybakina.
That followed the delayed second men’s semi-final between Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Sundays men’s final between champion Medvedev and Holger Rune started 90 minutes late.
Italian bureaucracy is likely to play a role in the roof project, however, with building permit approval expected to take from eight to 10 months.
There would then be another year and a half to two years to get the actual construction completed at an historical sporting park dating back nearly a century. The project would be paused during upcoming editions of the Italian Open.
Plans call for increasing the court capacity from its current 10,000-plus to 12,500 spectators.
French Open offers players tool to filter out online abuse
The French Open is offering players at this year’s tournament free access to a tool that will filter hateful messages on their social media platforms in a bid to prevent cyberbullying and harassment, organisers said yesterday.
The French Tennis Federation (FFT) said that artificial intelligence will be used to moderate comments players receive on posts in real time - with responses analysed in less than 200 milliseconds - and care will be taken about what is censored.
“As part of its strategy to take care of the players’ mental health, the FFT decided to collaborate with ‘Bodyguard’ to fight against cyberbullying,” the FFT said in a statement.
“A team of linguists creates word patterns that enable the system to be updated in real time according to what is posted on social media, in order to generate a more contextual analysis.”
The FFT added that the technology will be used to protect all official FFT and Roland Garros social media accounts as well as those of players who opt for it for the duration of the Grand Slam and at least a week after the tournament has ended.
Social media platforms that will be monitored are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok and Discord.
“We will not accept any form of violence at our tournament,” FFT director Caroline Flaissier said. “We’re very proud to be the first Grand Slam tournament to offer players a solution that efficiently protects them against cyberbullying.