The first racket of the world: What is the secret of Daniil Medvedev's success?

What is the secret of the success of tennis player Daniil Medvedev? Daniil Medvedev will receive the title of the first racket of the world on February 28. This will make him the first Russian to top the ATP rankings in over 20 years. About how he was getting close to victory - in the material.

Golden racket of Russia.

What is the secret of Daniil Medvedev's success

The first racket of the world Daniil Medvedev will top the ATP rating for the first time in his career on February 28. He tried to get close to this status since last season, but then he managed to take only second place. Medvedev's main rival was tennis player Novak Djokovic, whom he still could not get around.

Chances of winning came after the Australian Open, when it became known that Djokovic was an anti-vaxxer. After that, his visa was canceled and deported from the country . This deprived the tennis player of a number of opportunities to score points. The situation worsened even more after he failed to reach the semi-finals of Dubai, which, again, deprived him of points. And on Monday, February 28, he will lose 500 points for one of the 2020 titles, which will automatically place Medvedev in the top of the rankings.

Vice President of the Russian Tennis Federation Alexei Selivanenko told 360 that the rating is based on the results of the last 12 months. Djokovic had the whole month of January, points for past seasons were burned out, while Medvedev, meanwhile, was gaining victories and points.

“Daniil has been showing results over the past years that have given him the opportunity to come out on top in the rating system. He naturally walked towards this, gradually narrowed the gap with the leader and, according to the results of this week, took the first line, ”the expert said.

According to sports journalist Boris Jodorovsky, Medvedev was indeed kind of lucky that Djokovic turned out to be an anti-vaxxer. After all, if the Russian reached the final of the Grand Slam tournament and lost to Nadal, then the Serb did not participate in it at all. However, if you look at Medvedev's performance as a whole, then "sooner or later he would have become the first racket this season anyway." Selivanenko predicted strong competition between him and Djokovic in the future. Every match will now matter.

New records

Medvedev at the age of 26 will become the 27th first racket of the world. His leadership is unique for several reasons. Firstly, he will become only the third Russian to top the rating. Before him, Yevgeny Kafelnikov succeeded in 1999. He stayed at the top for six weeks, and after him, only Marat Safin became the first racket of the world from the Russians. His reign lasted nine weeks in 2000 and 2001.

Among women, only Maria Sharapova and Dinara Safina became the first rackets of the world. The first held the lead for 21 weeks, the second for 26 weeks.

It is also worth noting that since 2004, no one except the "Big Four" - Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic , Andy Murray - has led the ATP rating. This will be another record for Medvedev.

Interestingly, the leadership in the ranking is usually occupied by fairly young athletes, but Medvedev can be classified as an old man. Later, only five tennis players received the title of the first racket of the world.

Tennis in Russia

Before the advent of Medvedev, Russia had not been in tennis leadership for a long time. However, according to Selivanenko, this is not strongly connected with the school of sports in our country. First, the Big Four have dominated all these years. And athletes of this level are unique people who are born outside of any system.

“The system is created by representatives of the middle level, and these are brilliant athletes who are simply born. These are isolated cases. They cannot be prepared by a conveyor,” the expert emphasized.

Khodorovsky, in a conversation with 360, noted that all three Russian athletes who received the title of the first racket of the world are cases that are not similar to each other.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov was the last product of the Soviet system. He became the first racket at a time when tennis had the status of a presidential sport. There was a huge stir in Russia, and the matches were always sold out.

“Kafelnikov, with his talent, had good state support. And he got to a moment when there was no clear leader,” the journalist said.

Marat Safin is another story. He was lucky because he was able to find a sponsor and pay for training in Spain. He is a product of the training of a Russian athlete in the best foreign academies. After him, Nikolai Davydenko advanced closest to this throne. He was the second racket of the world, and then we had a lull among tennis players for a long time.

“We had strong tennis players, but not tennis players. This is due to the fact that the training of one tennis player costs an order of magnitude more than tennis players, ”said Khodorovsky. Now Russia has come to a period when it has grown a new generation of talented athletes. Medvedev received excellent training abroad and entered the stage at the right time. The golden four is gradually leaving, and a new group of tennis players is taking its place. “He did not force his takeoff. He gradually moved towards it. There have been several embarrassing losses at the Grand Slam championship. But later he managed to win it and greatly increase his rating. From there, Medvedev only went up,” the expert said.

Selivanenko added that he has also become a good role model for getting young people into the sport. He has everything for this - attractiveness, education and talent.