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The defending champion is not given a prayer at the ongoing Masters 1000 event after already suffering damaging losses to the World No. 2 and the sensational Italian in 2024.
A lot can change in a year, and Daniil Medvedev knows that more than most as he seeks to defend his Miami Open title. Success at the 2023 Masters 1000 event bade well for the Russian, whose win took his career titles to 19, his fifth Masters 1000 triumph and a fourth title of the year.
However, one more title has followed since last year’s Miami event — success over Holger Rune at the Masters 1000 tournament in Rome. Medvedev possibly never thought that triumph in May 2023 would be his last, having claimed five before the year’s halfway point.
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20:27 - 21.05.2023
TENNIS Medvedev wins first career title on clay beating Rune for Rome trophy
Daniil Medvedev won his 20th title in 20 different tournaments, overcoming Holger Rune for his first clay title in Rome.
It has not been for the lack of trying, with the world No. 4 making his way to multiple finals but has fallen at the last hurdle.
Medvedev’s losing run at finals in 2023
Having beaten Sinner at last year's Miami event in straight sets, Medvedev has struggled against the sensational Italian since that 7-5, 6-3 win, suffering a loss to the improving 22-year-old in two close sets in Beijing and another defeat in three in Vienna to follow his straight sets loss to Novak Djokovic at the US Open final.
At the ATP Finals in Turin, Sinner proved to be a stumbling block for the Russian in three sets, albeit in the semi-finals, thus closing out the year in disappointment. Unfortunately, more has followed in the new year.
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Medvedev’s losses to Sinner and Alcaraz in 2024
Perhaps the player’s most gutting heartache happened at the 2024 Australian Open against Sinner, who claimed his first Grand Slam at Medvedev’s expense.
The Russian claimed the first two sets in the final and was one more from winning a second Slam, but it never came, as the young Italian rallied to win the next three, harking back to Rafael Nadal’s turnaround in the 2022 final Down Under against Medvedev.
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Those hurtful defeats have not deterred the 28-year-old, whose continued consistency meant it was not surprising that he would be involved in some capacity at the first Masters 1000 event at Indian Wells.
But it turned out to be another unsuccessful one, with Carlos Alcaraz annihilating the 2021 US Open winner 7-6, 6-1 after being up a break in the opening set but throwing away a 3-0 advantage.
“It’s tough. Mentally, it’s not easy to play against this. Yeah, to be honest, in the second set, I felt a little bit out of solutions,” said the world No. 4 after a second consecutive finals defeat to Alcaraz at the BNP Paribas Open. “Yeah, it’s not an easy feeling because you have to try to do better.
Will Medvedev outdo Sinner and Alcaraz at the 2024 Miami Open?
Despite the respect he commands on tour, it is not out of place to suggest that the Miami Open defending champion enters the ongoing tournament third favourite behind Alcaraz and Sinner, with the latter’s giant strides in the last few months of 2023 and an outstanding start to 2024 seeing him overtake the five-time Masters 1000 champion.
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“Carlos and Jannik, for the moment, just them, they already established themselves to say we are here, we’re going to try to win as many tournaments as possible,” Medvedev admitted after his recent defeat to the Spaniard. “I hope I can sometimes try to beat them because it’s a very tough job, a very tough task.”
Djokovic’s withdrawal means a rematch of last year’s final is impossible, even if Medvedev could battle Sinner in the semis with a possible rematch with Alcaraz on the cards if the tournament’s leading seeds suffer no shock losses.
With Djokovic absent, almost everyone seems to be talking about a hypothetical Alcaraz-Sinner final. But Medvedev seeks to be the ultimate disruptor in Miami, keen to retain a Masters 1000 event for the first time. You cannot put it past the Russian to throw a spanner in the works.
READ MORE: Why Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are similar to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo
READ MORE: ‘It will be explosive’ – Ex-pro wants Nadal teaming up with Alcaraz at Olympics
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