Daniil Medvedev has seen men’s tennis change a lot since he first arrived on the ATP Tour.
Medvedev has been on the ATP Tour since 2016, when he was 20 years old, and since then has become one of the best players in men’s tennis.
During his emergence to the very top of the ATP rankings, Novak Djokovic has been a consistent force, even now at 39 years old.
Medvedev has now explained how he has noticed tennis change during the last 10 years, making a comment about Djokovic.
How would you feel if Novak Djokovic got a wildcard to the ATP Finals?
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Daniil Medvedev claims the level of men’s tennis has ‘become higher’
Medvedev spoke to BB Tennis at the Almaty Open, where he was asked about how he thinks tennis has changed since he first arrived on the ATP Tour.
The former world number one explained that he believes that more top 50 players had clear weaknesses earlier on in his career, while Medvedev stated that this is not the case anymore. As Medvedev claimed that the level of tennis is now higher, pointing out some of Djokovic’s very one-sided rivalries.
“I don’t remember if it was Sascha [Alexander] Bublik who said this or someone else, that there really is a huge difference in the fact that when I started playing, when I came to the tour, there were really players in the top 50, where at least you had a clear game plan that well, there’s a person who doesn’t know how to play on the left,” said Medvedev.
“At the same time, since he is in the top 50, he played very well on the forehand, maybe served very well, as if he tried to play like this. Now it’s hard to name a player who doesn’t know how to play with some kind of shot and he couldn’t play one match where he beats a top player there.
“Whereas before we had scores of 20-0, Novak beat someone 15-0, 15 times. Nowadays, it seems to me it is very difficult to find such players. The general level of tennis has certainly become higher, that’s 100%.”
Novak Djokovic’s most dominant Head-to-Heads
Djokovic is one of the greatest tennis players of all time, and unsurprisingly has some one-sided head-to-heads against a number of ATP players.
None other than Gael Monfils, who has just retired from tennis, with Djokovic winning all 20 matches he played against the Frenchman. Djokovic dominated his matches against the likes of Jeremy Chardy, Milos Raonic and Andreas Seppi.
The active player Djokovic has the most dominant head-to-head against is Taylor Fritz, having won all 12 matches he has played against the American.
| Novak Djokovic’s most dominant Head-to-Head’ | Head-to-Head Record |
| Gael Monfils | 20-0 Djokovic |
| Jeremy Chardy | 14-0 Djokovic |
| Milos Raonic | 12-0 Djokovic |
| Andreas Seppi | 12-0 Djokovic |
| Taylor Fritz | 11-0 Djokovic |
Medvedev has also struggled in his head-to-head against Djokovic, against whom he has lost 11 of his 16 matches against, including recently being defaulted during their encounter at the China Open.
However, Medvedev did win arguably their most important match in the final of the 2021 US Open, where he prevented Djokovic from completing the Calendar Slam.
