Medvedev on a mission!

The Russian wants to go to Turin for the year-end Masters and will be playing with a lot of motivation over the coming weeks.

As always, Medvedev’s statements and mentality off the court are a pleasure to read. He says the goal is to make it to Turin, but that he’s never going to start counting points or putting huge pressure on himself. This title in China will do him a world of good, especially given the way he won it. He’s finally found a stable quality of serve again and I also found him pretty solid from the baseline. It was really good Daniil all week.

On top of that, his run wasn’t exactly easy. He beat dangerous players and most of the time did it in style. I also liked the fact that he wanted to be a bit quick with the trophy ceremony, because he thought he’d be playing today in Beijing. Except the tournament gave him an extra rest day, which is obviously great for him, even if I don’t think he really needed it that much.

He’ll be facing Carreno Busta, who has continued to be hard to read this season. The Spaniard is capable of playing at a high level, and he’s proved it several times again in different tournaments. But he had physical problems at the end of the American swing. I don’t know how serious it was, but one thing is certain: he’s coming back for this Asian swing after coming through the qualifiers. He hasn’t beaten anyone big, with a win over a local player and then against a very tired Mannarino.

So needless to say, I’m going to need a lot more to consider him dangerous again. There’s also a match-up that doesn’t really work in his favor against Medvedev. His rhythmic, no-variation game obviously suits Daniil.

The Russian found his confidence and his tennis again last week. Against a player he likes to face, he should logically keep going.