Jessica Pegula & Coco Gauff agree with Daniil Medvedev on feeling shaken up when practicing hard doesn't yield expected results
Daniil Medvedev lifted the cup at the Rotterdam Open on Sunday, February 19. He overcame Italian Jannik Sinner to claim his first title of the season, bringing his overall total to an impressive 16.
Sinner came in strong into the tournament, fresh off his title win in the 2023 Open Sud De France in Montpellier. He took the first set, 7-5. The Russian then brought out his A-game and defied Sinner, dominating the following sets and winning the match, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.
In a video clip posted on social media, Daniil Medvedev can be seen candidly interacting with the media post his win. He is on-court, sitting in his chair and speaking about practicing hard all the time and feeling shaken up when the result is not as per his expectations. He added that he then looks back to figure out what went wrong.
"I mean to be honest, I practice hard all the time, so when it doesn't work, you're like, f**k, what am I doing wrong?" he said in the video clip.
The post was captioned:
"It's definitely working now," read the post, captioning the video.
Jessica Pegula re-posted the clip on her social media handle seemingly in agreement with the former World No. 1.
Pegula was recently the singles finalist at the WTA edition of the 2023 Qatar Open in Doha where she lost the title to Iga Swiatek.
Coco Gauff also shared the clip on her Instagram story, adding:
"Mood... it really is like that sometimes."
After winning the ASB Classic in Auckland to begin the year, Gauff faced a fourth-round exit at the Australian Open and a quarterfinal exit at the Qatar Open. Up next, both Gauff and Pegula will be in action at the Dubai Tennis Championships, where they will also combine to play doubles together.
Daniil Medvedev back in the Top 10 post Rotterdam Open 2023 title win
Daniil Medvedev's title win at the 2023 Rotterdam Open places him back in the Top 10 in the rankings.
The 27-year old opened his season as World No. 7, with the Adelaide International. He reached the semifinals of the tournament before losing to the eventual title winner, Novak Djokovic, in straight sets.
He then entered the first Grand Slam of the year, where he was last year's finalist, following which he also earned the top spot in the rankings. However, this year, he lost to Sebastian Korda in the third round, falling out of the Top 10 for the first time since July 2019.
The Rotterdam Open title win comes as a big boost to the Russian, who is now World No. 8, ahead of Holger Rune and Felix Auger-Aliassime in the No. 10 and the No. 9 spots respectively.
“It’s great because it’s still the beginning of the year,” he said in the post match press conference. “My third tournament of the year, and already a title. Last year I needed 12 tournaments or something like this. Beating great players, playing great here."
“Mentally it’s tough to come back after you [drop out] of the Top 10… I’m just happy to find my form and am looking forward to the next tournament and hopefully I can continue in this way,” he added.
Daniil Medvedev is now scheduled to play the Round of 16 after receiving a first-round bye at the 2023 Qatar Open in Doha on Wednesday, 22 February. He will square off against the winner between qualifiers Oleksii Krutykh and Liam Broady.