Medjedovic back in business after 'tough, challenging' start to year

ATP Tour

Hamad Medjedovic is back and firing on all cylinders at the Mutua Madrid Open.

Laid low by a virus at the start of the year, the 20-year-old Serbian is competing in just his fourth tournament of 2024 at the ATP Masters 1000 in the Spanish capital. He had not played a tour-level match this season prior to Thursday, when he overcame Aleksandar Kovacevic 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the first round after coming through qualifying at the Caja Magica.

The stop-start nature of the past few months has hindered Medjedovic’s hopes of kicking on after he showcased his big-hitting game to the world at the 2023 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF. Many young players go through such setbacks early in their career, but the timing of the blow was particularly harsh for a player who appeared to have the world at his feet after charging to the title in Jeddah.

“It was pretty much a tough, challenging start of the year for me,” Medjedovic told ATPTour.com in the Spanish capital. “I had a big virus at the beginning of the year which stopped me from practising and playing. Now that I’m fully recovered, it’s my first tournament where I’m 100 per cent fit.

"It’s a very nice feeling to qualify and get the first win at a Masters 1000, so I’m really happy about it.”

Medjedovic travelled to Australia at the start of the year as the No. 113 in the PIF ATP Rankings, seemingly poised to soon enter the Top 100 for the first time. He breezed through his first qualifying match at the Australian Open, but his struggles with the virus soon disrupted his progress.

The Serbian lost in the second qualifying round in Melbourne and did not compete again until March, when he lost back-to-back in qualifying in Indian Wells and at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Phoenix, respectively. While expectations of the powerful right-hander skyrocketed after his triumph in Jeddah, he has not yet had the chance to match them due to his recent absences from the Tour.

“A lot of people have been asking me if I had more pressure after Jeddah,” said Medjedovic. “I wouldn’t say so. It was of course a great win, to win NextGen, but I look at it in a positive way. It gave me a lot of confidence, which I still have, but it is in the past, so I don’t think too much about it.”

Medjedovic seems to have settled quickly in Madrid, where he takes on 30th seed Jiri Lehecka in the second round on Saturday. He beat the Czech in their only previous Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting, a quarter-final clash on an indoor hard court in Astana last October.

“I’m going to be thinking about it, but it is completely different conditions,” said Medjedovic, when asked whether his Astana victory will boost him when he faces Lehecka. “Hard indoor and clay outdoor. It is completely different, and he is a great player, a good guy as well. I’m looking forward to that match.”

Medjedovic certainly seems to be enjoying the relatively fast clay-court conditions in Madrid, where his powerful groundstrokes and booming serve can prosper. Together with the fact he has long favoured clay above other surfaces, there is plenty to suggest the Serbian can extend his stay at the Caja Magica by beating Lehecka.

“I started playing tennis on it and most of the time I spent playing tennis was on clay,” said Medjedovic on his favourite surface. “In Serbia we don’t have many hard courts, especially the city that I am coming from, so since I was a kid, I played on clay and that is where it all started.”