How Medvedev's Rome triumph altered his perspective on clay

One week ago, Daniil Medvedev’s Madrid run was ended at the quarter-final stage due to a right leg injury. The 28-year-old retired from his quarter-final match against Jiri Lehecka after losing the first set.

Seven days on and the second seed is ready to go at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, where he is the defending champion.

“I'm feeling good now. I had minor injury, I would say. Three days [I] stayed in Madrid, recovered a lot,” Medvedev said during his pre-tournament press conference on Thursday. “I came here, hit with the sparring [partners] to control my movement. Today I hit full… so I will play and see how it goes.”

Medvedev had never won a clay-court tour-level trophy when he arrived in Rome last year. The No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings changed that record with a series of impressive performances at the ATP Masters 1000 event in 2023, dropping just one set en route to the title.

Medvedev is excited to be back at the tournament which helped change his attitude on clay-court tennis.

“It feels great. There's photos of me with the cup, the nice tunnel where they show all the champions, I'm there. Pretty good feeling,” Medvedev said. “I changed my perspective on clay courts. I play better now in Madrid. I was playing very good. I had good victories… I feel like now on clay courts I can do big results. Not as surprising as last year.”

Medvedev, who joined forces with former World No. 6 Gilles Simon earlier this year, has been working hard to improve on a surface he previously disliked. The 2020 Nitto ATP Finals champion gave insight into what he has been focusing on to try and improve his level on clay.

“I would say practice and experience. Two, three years ago, when I would slide, when I would hit a shot, I would always kind of doubt myself if I've done the right thing, where now I kind of know what I have to do,” Medvedev said. “I just try to do it. If it doesn't work, I'm like, ‘Okay, I try to do better next time’. In practise now we can practise more precisely things we want, whereas before it was the same: Let's practise this, kind of let's see if it works. Last year we kind of found the right exercises, the right movements. We just continued it this year. Again, it's working great.”

Medvedev, who opens against Jack Draper or Borna Coric in the Italian capital, holds a 22-6 record on the year. Medvedev trails Coric 3-4 in the pair's Lexus ATP Head2Head series, while he has never faced Draper. The 28-year-old, currently second in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, is a 20-time tour-level titlist but has yet to successfully defend a trophy.

The 2021 US Open champ will try to change that record in Rome.

“I don't feel pressure at all. I’m feeling only happy that I won here last year and I want to do well this year,” Medvedev said. “But maybe it's not the right approach. Maybe I should change it, I don't know. For the moment, I don't want to change it. I like being relaxed. Let's see. Maybe one moment I will have to be more stressed.”