The ATP Tour is a harsh and unforgiving environment, where the world’s very best tennis players congregate to try and crush one another’s dreams.
It is so unique, as is the sport as a whole, that it can often leave many behind if they are unwilling to rise to these supremely uncomfortable conditions.
This can materialise through an inability to break through to the upper echelons of the sport, or through a slump suffered after a player has already been in and around the apex.
Hamad Medjedovic is a very special case.
Clearly blessed with great talent and a supreme striker of the ball, for whatever reason, things are going badly wrong for him at the moment.
His latest loss has only compounded his misery in recent months.
Hamad Medjedovic extends unwanted losing streak
As a former junior world number eight, Medjedovic felt destined for great things.
And, as he slowly started to develop towards senior tennis, that suggestion did not deviate.
It’s a testament to his talent that Novak Djokovic has even funded much of Medjedovic’s early career, clearly keen to usher in the next wave of great Serbian talent.
Sadly, that return is yet to pay dividends.
Medjedovic is capable of the spectacular, and yet he has not won a match since mid-June, with his latest loss coming in the Vienna Open qualifiers.
That is, despite beating Alex de Minaur back in April. The deviation from his floor and his ceiling is huge.
He reached a career-high ranking of 56 in 2023, but now sits 76th in the live rankings.
What has Novak Djokovic said about Hamad Medjedovic in the past?
Novak Djokovic has been hugely complimentary of Medjedovic throughout his early career, with the 39-year-old tipping him to achieve great success just a few years ago.
And with good reason too.
In 2023, he won the Next Gen Finals, defeating Arthur Fils in the final and confirming his status as a future threat to the ATP Tour.
Djokovic then noted: “It’s fantastic to see his recent achievements.
“He’s been playing really well in the last year or two years, maturing a lot, I think as a player, but as a person as well. The work that he’s putting in is paying off. Everyone who was around him in the past five-plus years, we all knew that the talent is there, the potential is there.”
How would you feel if Novak Djokovic got a wildcard to the ATP Finals?
Is there any changes you’d make to the current qualification system?
He continued: “He’s still very young, so he still has plenty of time ahead of him. But the recent success in Jeddah made me very happy. I’m very happy. He’s been someone that I tried to be close to mentor, help in any possible way support.
“Hopefully we’ll see his rise to the top of the world, going in the right direction and coming really quickly.”
