Daniil Medvedev Loses a Match and No. 1 Ranking, but Faces Bigger Concerns

Navratilova, who was born in 1956 within the Czechoslovak capital of Prague, remembers taking part in a Russian in a junior match there not lengthy after the Soviet Union and different Warsaw Pact nations invaded in 1968 to suppress a democratic motion.

“I do know it’s emotionally so troublesome,” she mentioned. “I used to be 13, virtually 14. I wished to beat this junior, and, in actual fact, after I shook her hand after I did, I mentioned, ‘See, your tanks can’t beat us!’ So, I get that. You’re feeling like you’re taking part in to your nation, and it hurts! And I knew she had nothing to do with it, however I nonetheless took it personally. So, I get the place Kostyuk is coming from, how a lot it hurts, however I don’t assume you may punish folks to that degree.”

Medvedev, who has been based mostly in southern France or Monte Carlo since his early teenagers, mentioned that in his view, “tennis is a really particular person sport.”

He mentioned that as long as he had the possibility, “I’m going to be there to attempt to play for the followers, play for different folks, for myself additionally, in fact.”

However although each the lads’s and ladies’s excursions have reiterated their help for the present method, Medvedev is aware of there aren’t any ensures. Although he has by no means performed his most interesting tennis within the desert warmth of Indian Wells, one additionally has to surprise how a lot the uncertainty and the struggle are impacting his mind-set or how a lot it may need impacted his tennis in opposition to Monfils on Monday, as Medvedev’s exact sport collapsed within the closing set amid a flurry of double faults and uncharacteristic errors.

“Let’s see how the scenario evolves,” he mentioned of allowing Russian athletes to compete.

Subsequent cease: the Miami Open, the place the lads’s predominant draw begins March 23 and the place, with Djokovic nonetheless not anticipated to play due to the journey ban, Medvedev can reclaim the No. 1 rating by reaching the semifinals.

However that, at this stage, just isn’t the largest of his considerations.