Daniil Medvedev suffered a bizarre loss at Wimbledon this year.
Medvedev lost in the third round of Wimbledon to Jan-Lennard Struff in straight sets, despite having a lead in all three of these sets.
It has been a resurgent season for Medvedev, who has won two ATP titles and reached the Indian Wells final, but he has not reached a Grand Slam quarter-final since 2024.
Following his Wimbledon exit, Medvedev has now been criticised for what he said in his post-match press conference.
Steve Flink claims Daniil Medvedev was ‘too accepting’ of his Wimbledon defeat
Tennis Hall of Fame journalist Steve Flink discussed Medvedev’s Wimbledon disappointment on the Tennis and Bagels Podcast.
Flink highlighted how accepting Medvedev was of his defeat to Struff, something he suggested was uncharacteristic and disappointing from the former world number one.
Medvedev’s serve was also highlighted as something that has got worse, which Flink believes is contributing heavily to some of his recent losses.
“I was in his press conference and he was very kind of matter of fact, he didn’t seem that wounded by it, whereas I have after losses where he is agitated and aggrieved and a little bit perplexed,” said Flink.
“This time it was very matter of fact that you have these days, but maybe he is becoming a little too accepting of these days. It is a shame.
“It is a shame when you consider between ’19 and ’24, I mean all of the highlights and the two losses to Rafa [Nadal] in five sets, one at the [US] Open and one in Australia, beating Novak [Djokovic] and spoiling the [Calendar] Grand Slam.
“There’s so many great moments for him and he had some bad luck, because in Australia he had one where he had Rafa down two sets to love and one where he had [Jannik] Sinner down two sets to love, but he fought valiantly, he tried and he gave you his all, he didn’t implode on those occasions, he lost to great players and was a bit unlucky to lose to them. But this kind of performance to me is highly disappointing what happened to him with Struff.”
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Flink added, “He may still make it into Turin [ATP Finals], but it’s a shame. It’s really kind of a shame, because he should be better than this…You mentioned the leads that he let get away in every set [vs Struff at Wimbledon], once upon a time that would not have happened.
“There is no doubt that he can’t call on the serve the way he did for so long, it’s just not as potent a weapon or as consistent a weapon. That really takes him down a level.
“I mean there are days, he served strikingly well against [Carlos] Alcaraz in Indian Wells and served quite well against Sinner in the final there, and I thought maybe he was coming around and then he just reverts and he does not sustain that.
“You take that away from Daniil and considering how hard he has to work from the back of the court, you can see why he is a diminished player. Again not always, he had a very good Rome and a good match with Sinner, there have been moments but too many ups and downs, and unfortunately the downs are starting to outnumber the ups.”
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What is next for Daniil Medvedev?
Despite Medvedev’s early loss at Wimbledon, it has been an improved year for the former US Open champion after dropping to as low as world number 18 last year.
Medvedev is now the world number eight and is also fifth in the race to the ATP Finals, having missed the year-end event for the first time since 2018 last year.
The Russian will now turn his attention to the North American hard court swing, where Medvedev has enjoyed some of his best career success.
Medvedev will begin his US Open hard court season at the Washington Open, where he reached the final in 2019.
He is also scheduled to play at the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open ahead of the US Open, with Medvedev a former champion at all three tournaments.
