Medvedev - scary potential

Russeljones

Russeljones

Talk Tennis Guru
I was watching Medvedev vs Tsitsipas the other day, and thinking - there are still things this guy is not doing as well as he could. Significant things. He is uncomfortable at the net; he seems to have a preference for his safer shot - the backhand, but his forehand can be ludicrous. His second serve can probably improve a lot (because he is so tall), as well as his return. Added to this, if he starts hitting the ball earlier, he could bully anyone.

That said, he is already incredibly successful with his toolset. I like his temperament and decision-making. There was a moment, against Tsitsipas, where he began rushing, he recognised and corrected faster than any player I have seen. Most would have lost that set, sat in their chair and started a sad inquest into how exactly they let it slip. I'm not easily impressed, but this guy is legit.
 
Raul_SJ

Raul_SJ

G.O.A.T.
Russeljones said:
Significant things. He is uncomfortable at the net;
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Don't think he is doing this anymore but nevertheless it is very disturbing to see a 6'6" man running away from the net.

final_6030aea4de21e700d403822f_568344.gif
 
D

Deleted member 771911

Guest
I think their games are set by the time they are about 14. I don't see him starting to take the ball earlier or any huge technical changes. I think he's quite limited and if he was any real potential he'd have won the 2019 USO final.
 
chjtennis

chjtennis

G.O.A.T.
I think Meddy has been recognized by many fans as the biggest future threat out of any of the younger generations after his USO final appearance. It may or may not happen tomorrow, but he will become the most feared player on men's tennis soon.
 
weakera

weakera

Talk Tennis Guru
chjtennis said:
I think Meddy has been recognized by many fans as the biggest future threat out of any of the younger generations after his USO final appearance. It may or may not happen tomorrow, but he will become the most feared player on men's tennis soon.
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Not on grass or clay though
 
D

Deleted member 22147

Guest
It is funny that he has just turned 25, and when Safin just turned 25 he won his second GS but his career was essentially finished two months later by a knee injury.

Medvedev has every chance to go on to be far more successful than Safin. He has already had more injury free seasons than Safin. If he can continue the way he is going, he could be a 6 slam man or something like that. Who knows. He seems to treat his profession very seriously, which is more than could be said for the likes of Safin and Kafelnikov, who retired at 29 and 28 respectively.
 
S

Start da Game

Hall of Fame
Russeljones said:
I was watching Medvedev vs Tsitsipas the other day, and thinking - there are still things this guy is not doing as well as he could. Significant things. He is uncomfortable at the net; he seems to have a preference for his safer shot - the backhand, but his forehand can be ludicrous. His second serve can probably improve a lot (because he is so tall), as well as his return. Added to this, if he starts hitting the ball earlier, he could bully anyone.

That said, he is already incredibly successful with his toolset. I like his temperament and decision-making. There was a moment, against Tsitsipas, where he began rushing, he recognised and corrected faster than any player I have seen. Most would have lost that set, sat in their chair and started a sad inquest into how exactly they let it slip. I'm not easily impressed, but this guy is legit.
Click to expand...

the best part about his game is his forehand, you just don't know what he is going to throw at you with that shot........hope he can bring his best game tomorrow when he needs it most........
 
mike danny

mike danny

Bionic Poster
Ocean Drive said:
It is funny that he has just turned 25, and when Safin just turned 25 he won his second GS but his career was essentially finished two months later by a knee injury.

Medvedev has every chance to go on to be far more successful than Safin. He has already had more injury free seasons than Safin. If he can continue the way he is going, he could be a 6 slam man or something like that. Who knows. He seems to treat his profession very seriously, which is more than could be said for the likes of Safin and Kafelnikov, who retired at 29 and 28 respectively.
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In Safin's case, he simply had the bad luck of injuring himself permanently after he finally started fully dedicating to tennis in late 2004.
 
D

Deleted member 22147

Guest
mike danny said:
In Safin's case, he simply had the bad luck of injuring himself permanently after he finally started fully dedicating to tennis in late 2004.
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Yes. Safin had 2000, 2002 and 2004 as injury free years in his career. He did incredibly well to win 2 GS, 2 DC, 5 MS and reach number 1. While Safin did not have tunnel vision for very long, his potential was destroyed by injury and it was his knee injury that ruined him.

He seemed to dedicate himself late 2004 as you say and Ivan Ljubicic at the time spoke of Safin's seemingly new vigour. After he won in Australia, he was back to his usual self though and seemingly couldn't care less as usual in IW and Miami (played epic with Labadze though). As soon as the injury struck in the clay court season, he should've stopped there and then. He believes he may have exacerbated the extent of the injury.

Medvedev, while not as talented, is an even better athlete than Safin was and seemingly has that tunnel vision and professionalism that the top guys of today have. I think Medvedev has some of the ugliest groundstrokes I've ever seen, but all of his traits seem good for today's hardcourt speed. He has been pitiful on clay and grass, so if he can up that gives himself a chance of being number 1 at some point.
 
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Robbymack

New User
Dunno, considering his size and agility you’d think he’d already be number 1. I just don’t think he’s got the willingness to unleash the firepower to really be a threat to the top players long term. Sure he can string together some great runs, like he’s currently on, but unless he’s willing to really develop the serve and the forehand into an actual weapon and not just a counterpunch I just don’t see it. YMMV.
 
UnderratedSlam

UnderratedSlam

G.O.A.T.
Robbymack said:
Dunno, considering his size and agility you’d think he’d already be number 1. I just don’t think he’s got the willingness to unleash the firepower to really be a threat to the top players long term. Sure he can string together some great runs, like he’s currently on, but unless he’s willing to really develop the serve and the forehand into an actual weapon and not just a counterpunch I just don’t see it. YMMV.
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How many guys that tall had been no 1?

Zero.

He is 198 cm. (It's beneath me to convert this to the savage, pre-historic non-metric system.)

Number 1s taller than 192 cm?

Safin... 193 cm.

That's about it. 2 weeks at the top.

So no. If he reaches no 1 that would break new records and perhaps open an era of taller players dominating more than before.
 
chjtennis

chjtennis

G.O.A.T.
weakera said:
Not on grass or clay though
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At his peak, he will be good even on grass and clay. He is tall but well balanced and moves extremely well for his height. His big serving will always give him to beat anyone on grass. On clay, his movement is good enough to do well but, clay may be his weakest surface, I guess.
 
chjtennis

chjtennis

G.O.A.T.
UnderratedSlam said:
How many guys that tall had been no 1?

Zero.

He is 198 cm. (It's beneath me to convert this to the savage, pre-historic non-metric system.)

Number 1s taller than 192 cm?

Safin... 193 cm.

That's about it. 2 weeks at the top.

So no. If he reaches no 1 that would break new records and perhaps open an era of taller players dominating more than before.
Click to expand...

I used to have similar opinion as yours on the height. However, the modern sport science enabled these tall players to be effective with their movements and stamina, so we may see 6'6" no.1 players on a regular basis from now on. Medvedev and Zverev come to mind first.
 
socallefty

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
I always wonder if these really tall guys like Medvedev and Zverev can remain injury-free to have a long career playing a sport like tennis which puts a lot of stress on the lower joints especially if your natural center of gravity is high.
 
-NN-

-NN-

G.O.A.T.
socallefty said:
I always wonder if these really tall guys like Medvedev and Zverev can remain injury-free to have a long career playing a sport like tennis which puts a lot of stress on the lower joints especially if your natural center of gravity is high.
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Aye that's the question. And Medvedev sure does like to run.
 
UnderratedSlam

UnderratedSlam

G.O.A.T.
chjtennis said:
I used to have similar opinion as yours on the height. However, the modern sport science enabled these tall players to be effective with their movements and stamina, so we may see 6'6" no.1 players on a regular basis from now on. Medvedev and Zverev come to mind first.
Click to expand...
What's your opinion now though?
 
canta_Brian

canta_Brian

Hall of Fame
Anyone have any good side on images/video of him hitting his forehand? I thought he got rushed an awful lot today and have always thought it looks as he hits his forehand quite late. It is almost underneath him. Also it seems a bit of a big swing for the amount of penetration he gets through the court. Backhand looks better, but was quite short a lot of time tonight. Djokovic seemed to have plenty of time to step onto it.
 
chjtennis

chjtennis

G.O.A.T.
UnderratedSlam said:
What's your opinion now though?
Click to expand...

I've mentioned that we may see 6'6" tall no.1 players on a regular basis from now on. These giant players of modern tennis are extremely athletic and fast. Safin and Becker are the only no.1s who's 6'3"+(about 190cm+) tall in the history of ATP, but nowadays, tall guys like Medvedev, Zverev, Tsitsipas, Kyrgios, FAA, and even Khachanov and Berrettini all move really well. One of these guys will surely be no.1 in a few years' time.
 
R

RelentlessAttack

Hall of Fame
chjtennis said:
I've mentioned that we may see 6'6" tall no.1 players on a regular basis from now on. These giant players of modern tennis are extremely athletic and fast. Safin and Becker are the only no.1s who's 6'3"+(about 190cm+) tall in the history of ATP, but nowadays, tall guys like Medvedev, Zverev, Tsitsipas, Kyrgios, FAA, and even Khachanov and Berrettini all move really well. One of these guys will surely be no.1 in a few years' time.
Click to expand...

I guess one of them will have to be #1 at some point when Djokodal retire at 50 but they’ve all lost their chance to go out and take it. Whoever ends up being the best among them will always be regarded as a weak era champ
 
MeatTornado

MeatTornado

Talk Tennis Guru
canta_Brian said:
Anyone have any good side on images/video of him hitting his forehand? I thought he got rushed an awful lot today and have always thought it looks as he hits his forehand quite late. It is almost underneath him. Also it seems a bit of a big swing for the amount of penetration he gets through the court. Backhand looks better, but was quite short a lot of time tonight. Djokovic seemed to have plenty of time to step onto it.
Click to expand...
Absolutely. Forehand was his biggest problem today, he couldn't find the range at all. Way more went into the net than normal. But I think it had more to do with his poor footwork today than the mechanics of the stroke itself. He couldn't move out of the way of the ball quickly enough, which made the stroke look late and rushed.
 
chjtennis

chjtennis

G.O.A.T.
RelentlessAttack said:
I guess one of them will have to be #1 at some point when Djokodal retire at 50 but they’ve all lost their chance to go out and take it. Whoever ends up being the best among them will always be regarded as a weak era champ
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Big 3 will be challenged this year and I'm pretty sure only Djokovic has a chance at year-end no.1 now. Even that's not a certainty, I'd say, and Big 3 will be pushed out next year, so just be patient and enjoy their history making runs while they last.
 
R

RelentlessAttack

Hall of Fame
chjtennis said:
Big 3 will be challenged this year and I'm pretty sure only Djokovic has a chance at year-end no.1 now. Even that's not a certainty, I'd say, and Big 3 will be pushed out next year, so just be patient and enjoy their history making runs while they last.
Click to expand...

Lol, like I said elsewhere, hope springs eternal but the inflation era is forever. Nextgen are total clowns
 
S

Start da Game

Hall of Fame
i am glad that i missed this horror show and instead chose to down a couple of beers with my friend on a lazy sunday afternoon........i have not seen a single point from the match but for some reason i was not convinced that medvedev is a better opponent than tsitsipas, check my posts from a couple of days........these baseliners are bread and butter for novak, what can throw him off is stan-the-manesque attacking game.........i felt tsitsipas could have posed a bigger problem........
 
vex

vex

Legend
Russeljones said:
I was watching Medvedev vs Tsitsipas the other day, and thinking - there are still things this guy is not doing as well as he could. Significant things. He is uncomfortable at the net; he seems to have a preference for his safer shot - the backhand, but his forehand can be ludicrous. His second serve can probably improve a lot (because he is so tall), as well as his return. Added to this, if he starts hitting the ball earlier, he could bully anyone.

That said, he is already incredibly successful with his toolset. I like his temperament and decision-making. There was a moment, against Tsitsipas, where he began rushing, he recognised and corrected faster than any player I have seen. Most would have lost that set, sat in their chair and started a sad inquest into how exactly they let it slip. I'm not easily impressed, but this guy is legit.
Click to expand...
He is legit obviously. But he needs to up his mental game.
 
ACE of Hearts

ACE of Hearts

Bionic Poster
Slowtwitcher said:
Injuries will probably derail the old guys. Just look what happened to Djoke, he had a very serious injury to overcome in order to win AO 21.
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meh. They could win even in a wheelchair. Tennis will be brutal when these guys leave the sport. Nadal is still gonna be the heavy favorite come the french. I don’t expect mugdevev to do much on clay. Maybe thiem and zverev but they won’t challenge nadal.
 
R

Robbymack

New User
chjtennis said:
I used to have similar opinion as yours on the height. However, the modern sport science enabled these tall players to be effective with their movements and stamina, so we may see 6'6" no.1 players on a regular basis from now on. Medvedev and Zverev come to mind first.
Click to expand...
Quite true. What we all forget is tennis is an after thought for the truely elite athletes in most if not all countries. In the us you obviously have football, basketball, and baseball. Elsewhere it’s soccer or rugby etc etc. but as the athletes in each of those sports have gotten faster and bigger some of those guys who’d have otherwise played a different sport in prior generations are migrating to tennis and golf etc because they’ve found a nitch where their size and speed advantage makes a difference whereas it doesn’t in more of the mainstream sports as there are more and more tall and quick guys playing those. It’s really just a natural evolution. For a really long time basketball centers at 7ft were slow and not really great at much other than a handful of outliers like Russell, chamberlain, Kareem. Now the league has a bevy of 7ft players who can knock down 3’s and run the floor like a guard. It’s really just a matter of time until a freakish young 7ft athlete comes along and chooses tennis over other sports and rewrites all record books.
 
P

PETEhammer

Guest
Russeljones said:
I was watching Medvedev vs Tsitsipas the other day, and thinking - there are still things this guy is not doing as well as he could. Significant things. He is uncomfortable at the net; he seems to have a preference for his safer shot - the backhand, but his forehand can be ludicrous. His second serve can probably improve a lot (because he is so tall), as well as his return. Added to this, if he starts hitting the ball earlier, he could bully anyone.

That said, he is already incredibly successful with his toolset. I like his temperament and decision-making. There was a moment, against Tsitsipas, where he began rushing, he recognised and corrected faster than any player I have seen. Most would have lost that set, sat in their chair and started a sad inquest into how exactly they let it slip. I'm not easily impressed, but this guy is legit.
Click to expand...
Acute observation. Thrawn-like, one might say.
 
socallefty

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
Djokovic hit bigger than both Zverev and Medvedev at this year’s fast AO. Zverev to his credit hung in there, made less errors than Novak and won a majority of the longer rallies - he lost because of Novak’s clutch serving. Medvedev in contrast was outhit from the baseline, robbed of time with respect to his footwork and made more than twenty more unforced errors than Novak.
 
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