Rusedski picks Daniil Medvedev over Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem & Novak Djokovic as the favorite to win ATP Finals
Former World No. 4 Greg Rusedski has surprisingly named Daniil Medvedev as the favorite to win the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, ahead of the top 3 players in the world. World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, second-ranked Rafael Nadal and No. 3 Dominic Thiem have each won one of the three Grand Slams this season, but Rusedski thinks the Russian will trump them all in London.
He has good reason for that too though. Medvedev won the Rolex Paris Masters just prior to the ATP Finals, and currently is on an eight-match winning streak.
"I'm leaning towards this guy called Daniil Medvedev at the moment, I'm just super impressed with him. I'm just thinking this could be his year to win the title. Despite his head-to-head, there's something I saw in his match with Novak Djokovic, I'm leaning towards him," Rusedski said.
Medvedev trails all the remaining players in the head-to-head. He has a 0-3 record against Rafael Nadal, a 1-3 record against Dominic Thiem and a 3-4 record against Novak Djokovic, whom he defeated in the round-robin stage earlier this week.
"Can any of the four guys win? Of course they can. But who has played the best so far at this event? That's been Medvedev, in my opinion. He is my favorite in my opinion to win this tournament the way he's playing," Rusedski added.
You have 3 Slam winners in Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Novak Djokovic, and the hottest player Daniil Medevdev in the semis: Greg Rusedski
Dominic Thiem will take on Novak Djokovic in the first semifinal on Saturday, while Medvedev will face off against Rafael Nadal in the second semifinal. Rusedski thinks this is a dream line-up since it includes the three Slam winners of the year as well as 'the hottest player on the tour' in Daniil Medvedev, who is the only unbeaten player at this tournament so far.
"This is the dream semifinals, you have the three Grand Slam champions (Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and Novak Djokovic) because we didn't play Wimbledon this year. On top of that you have the hottest player on Tour right now, Medvedev, who won in Paris," Rusedski said.
"Thiem knows he's a Grand Slam champion, Medvedev wants to be a Slam champion and you've got the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the world. This is a perfect finish to the season considering what everybody's had to go through this year," the Brit added.