These two are quite a story. Between Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, the story goes back and, through hot and lively episodes, on and off the court, we knew that this rivalry would be eternal. What could be more logical between two men whose only thing in common was generational, with a stated ambition to debunk the “Big Three” and appear as the only head sticking out from this somewhat quickly labeled Next Gen.
It all started very strong. 2018: the two men face each other in Miami when they are only hopefuls in the making but things deteriorate very quickly. In Florida, Medvedev wins and the break, recorded with an icy handshake, is profound. “Dude, you should shut up…“, the Russian tells him after accusing him of insults during the match. The rivalry is born and the Medvedev complex is only just beginning for the Greek.
Five defeats in a row for Tsitsipas before the breakthrough, at the London Masters in 2021. After his victory, Stefanos confirms that between the two, it is not mad love: “Clearly, our chemistry is not the best we can have on the circuit, but it can happen, we can’t like everyone. So I don’t hate him, but let’s just say I wouldn’t go to dinner with him.”
It took a long time, it’s true
Three years later, the time has come for appeasement. At 26 and 28 years old, Tsitsipas and Medvedev have evolved, grown and put aside childhood quarrels. As much as Medvedev was still very clear about his relationship with Alexander Zverev last year in Monte-Carlo, the animosity towards Tsitsipas was no longer really a subject at the press conference. “I have a daughter now, I see things differently on and off the court“, explained the Russian on Monday.
On Tuesday, Stefanos Tsitsipas was much more talkative when returning to this changing relationship. “I consider him someone I respect a lot on the circuit. I have a lot more than beforehe admitted. We’ve had some very heated episodes on the court in the past but I think that over time, things have calmed down. We were also able to talk off the court and understand together how all these things could have happened.“.
In essence, the Greek admits to a flat discussion, as if to reset everything. “I always sought to resolve this type of conflict, I didn’t want to leave it like thathe continued. It took time, a lot of time, it’s true, but it’s really good that we put things aside and that tennis brings peace rather than conflict.”
Out of his match, Medvedev then pulled himself together
Opposition of styles, and that’s so much the better
If the animosity between the two was so striking, it is also because two visions of tennis seemed to collide. The aesthete versus the pragmatist. A somewhat simplistic reading of things, even if Tsitsipas has long adhered to this thesis, hiding behind it for a form of complex towards Medvedev.
“I think he brought a lot of things…unorthodox I would saythus developed the Greek. Unorthodox because we haven’t seen many players play like him in the past. Before, I might have said things about his game but, come to think of it, I was completely wrong. There are so many different things he brings compared to the rest of the circuit. This is what he does that makes him so unique, because there are no other players like him. It gives another dimension to tennis because it shows that you can do this sport in another way, that you can shape your game in a different way. This is clearly his mark, what he brought to tennis and I believe that this is why we will remember him in several years..” Definitively, the hatchet is buried.
