The new Medvedev seeks calm: "I must improve the details, but we must take it slowly"

Carlos Navarro | 17 Oct 2025 | 15.38

Will the new Daniil Medvedev be able to break his title drought in Almaty? Source: Getty

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Tennis tends to be a tremendously short-term sport. Weeks end like flashes, fluttering without allowing room for reflection and pause. Constantly traveling from one end of the world to the other, surfing a wave that can grow... until it engulfs you. This is what Daniil Medvedev has felt in recent months, seeing his ship constantly collide with various icebergs without finding an apparent solution to the problem.

He tried different approaches until activating the last button, the one that should only be pressed in situations of true emergency. He himself expressed reluctance to make 180-degree turns within his process, but Daniil Medvedev has completely transformed himself since ending his collaboration with Gilles Cervara, the man who led him to the world number one ranking and his first Grand Slam. Now, with Thomas Johansson as a co-pilot, the Russian seems to be reaping certain rewards: he returned to the semi-finals of a Masters 1000 six months later, has strung together notable victories, and is pursuing his first title in the ATP Almaty 2025 since Rome 2023.

The opportunity certainly seems ideal: a tournament where the Russian feels very comfortable, already in the semifinals without dropping a set along the way, on a surface (indoor hard court) where he has won eight of his twenty titles and at a perfect point in the calendar to serve as a launching pad for 2026. However, what best defines this "new Medvedev" is the calmness with which he reflects, aware that the journey back to his best form is long, distancing himself from the nerves and anxiety that have plagued his tennis in recent months.

Medvedev is clear about what needs improvement, but emphasizes that the work is medium to long-term

"This has been a fresh start for me. We achieved great results in China, that's clear. When you start playing well, you immediately want more, want to do more things, and I know how to do them, but this is an everyday process, it must be done step by step", notes the Muscovite with great maturity, emphasizing the relentless frenzy of the circuit as a hindrance to making major changes. "It's not easy to judge the results yet because we had a week to train in Monaco and, from there, it's practically tournament after tournament, there has been no break. There is no time to do something big (in terms of changes), but so far everything has worked very well".

This is where the tennis world pays the most attention. What does Medvedev mean when he talks about major changes? What does he seek to do differently in this new chapter of his career? The Russian expressed optimism about his tennis and did not want to overlook any specific detail: "I believe my game is complete enough, but it needs some added details here and there; that's what we are working on. Details in everything: forehand, backhand, volley, serve. They are already good enough, because I was the world number one, but I need to improve minor details". So far, those details seem to be working: a semifinalist in Beijing, Shanghai, and now Almaty... where only the title will suffice. Perhaps in a couple of days, we'll write about him again.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, El nuevo Medvedev busca la calma: "Debo mejorar los detalles, pero hay que ir poco a poco"

Daniil Medvedev