Exclusive: Medvedev reveals ‘higher expectations’ on clay as he seeks to improve French Open record

Daniil Medvedev has told Eurosport that he has “higher and higher expectations” on clay as he targets success at the French Open, the upcoming second Grand Slam of the year.

The 28-year-old Russian has a glittering palmares in the sport, with a US Open title to his name as well as making five other Grand Slam finals, winning the ATP Finals in 2020, and spending time as world No. 1.

However, Roland-Garros represents something of an anomaly on his record, having only got past the first round twice in seven attempts, with his best showing coming in 2021 when he reached the quarter-finals.

“I’m either way getting there step by step [on clay], Medvedev told Eurosport.

“I made quarters three years ago [at the French Open] playing actually some really good tennis, in my opinion. I won Rome last year.

“I still don’t like clay too much, just because my game doesn’t suit it perfectly.

“It’s much tougher for me to adapt to different circumstances, either bad bounces or a guy that has a good kick-serve and stuff like this.

“So a lot of small details I have to take care of, which I managed to do last year and some years before in Roland-Garros.

“So I actually have in a way higher and higher expectations for clay every year than before, which can sometimes be tricky but at the same time I like high expectations because when you have high expectations, it means you have the confidence.

“Sometimes you can lose and lose this confidence, but sometimes it can actually bring you higher.

“So I’m really looking forward to Roland-Garros. I feel like lately I managed to find a small edge at Grand Slams and play well starting from Wimbledon in 2023.

“So I’m going to try to use it and try to have a good French Open this year.”

That was Medvedev’s second successive loss to Sinner, after the Italian memorably came back from two sets down to win the Australian Open final back in January to claim his first major title.

Medvedev opened up on how he reflected on that loss, and what he learned from it.

“I look back on it with experience, on the whole tournament,” he said. “On the final, to be honest – and I talked to all my team and we discussed it really well – not much I have to say.

“Good comeback from Jannik, tactically he changed just small things here and there. He managed to, let’s say, get me off the floor.

“The guys I played before physically they got tired, and I could use it. Jannik didn’t really get tired, didn’t really get too tight.

“So congrats to him, unfortunately for me. But I think, first of all, I’m able to do crazy things with the amount of hours I played on the court and to win crazy matches.

“But an experience for next time that maybe I can try to change my game here and there to try to make the matches faster, make the points faster.

“And if I manage to be in the final [again], arrive there fresher.”

Medvedev begins his Monte Carlo campaign on Tuesday with a clash against either Gael Monfils or Jordan Thompson.