Madrid Open: Daniil Medvedev says ‘it’s scary’ to have Carlos Alcaraz in same part of draw at tournaments

Daniil Medvedev admits Carlos Alcaraz is a “scary” proposition to face due to the repertoire of shots he can call upon during a match.

While Medvedev is famously difficult to get past with his stubborn defence from the baseline, Alcaraz leaves his opponents constantly second guessing which shot he is going to play next.

Speaking about facing this dilemma, Medvedev said: “They are very disguised. One out of two he’s going to make a drop shot, but the one he doesn’t make, it’s going to be a bomb forehand, so you can’t just run for it because then it’s going to be a winner.

“I’m going to be interested to play him more and more to try and see how I can handle this part better.”

Despite already collecting four trophies so far this season – with victories in Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai and Miami – Medvedev was forced to swallow a defeat against Alcaraz in the first half of the ‘Sunshine Double’, going down 6-3 6-2 in the showpiece match.

Medvedev knows other players were watching that match and are trying to use Alcaraz’s tactic against him.

“I remember against [Carlos] in Indian Wells, I was like, ‘yeah, I was not expecting this, the drop shot from this position!’ Then the next week in Miami, I think a lot of guys maybe saw the final, so they started to do only drop shots against me.

“It’s not the same. It’s like, ‘okay, continue doing it, I’m there!’ [and] against [Carlos], I’m not there. He’s playing great and everyone knows it. If you have him in your draw, it’s scary.

Despite that defeat in California, Medvedev is in fine form – with 31 wins and just 4 losses this season – and will begin his Madrid Open campaign against either Andy Murray or Andrea Vavassori.

Although the world No.3 is not the greatest fan of the clay, he is determined to improve on the surface.

Looking ahead to the challenge in the Spanish capital, Medvedev said, “It’s definitely different. I would say it’s a little bit like Roland-Garros clay where it’s kind of on a harder surface. Also altitude, so the balls are flying.

“What I see from results of many people, I should be able to actually play better here than other clay-court tournaments. So far, I was not able to do it. But every year is a new opportunity. This year is another one, and I’m going to try to just play my best and hopefully play some good tennis.”

Alcaraz – fresh from winning the Barcelona Open – is also in action in Madrid and takes on Emil Ruusuvuori, who battled past Ugo Humbert in the first round.

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