Daniil Medvedev’s Indian Wells hopes were vanquished by Jannik Sinner on Sunday evening.
Medvedev had performed superbly throughout the week, defeating Carlos Alcaraz on his way to the final.
However, after a back-and-forth battle, it was Sinner who emerged victorious in the final, defeating Medvedev 7-6, 7-6.
Despite the loss, Medvedev proved he can challenge for big titles once again following a difficult 2025 season.
Will Jannik Sinner complete the Career Grand Slam at Roland Garros this year? 🤔
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Following the contest, the 30-year-old discussed whether he could be the man to challenge the dominance of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner; who admitted that he made a mistake during the Indian Wells final.
Daniil Medvedev on challenging Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner: ‘tough to say’
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have dominated the ATP Tour in recent years.
The pair have won the last nine Grand Slam titles combined and have been head and shoulders above the chasing pack.
However, Medvedev demonstrated signs of being a potential challenger this week. He not only beat Carlos Alcaraz, but seriously challenged Sinner in the final.
Medvedev began by discussing his future goals during his post-match press conference, before analysing whether he can challenge Sinner and Alcaraz in the future.
He said: “Yeah, I mean, pleasure [to play Sinner and Alcaraz]. I said that last year I didn’t play any of them because I played bad, so I was losing before facing them.
“So I’m happy that this tournament I played good enough to beat all the other guys first, and then even good enough to beat Carlos and then face Jannik.
“So that’s going to be my goal, not focus on them too much exactly, but focus on improving myself, improving my game, trying to beat all the other guys.
Will Daniil Medvedev ever win another Grand Slam title?
“Then, as I said yesterday, whenever you have Carlos and Jannik in the tournament, which is probably going to be the case in Miami, there is a big chance you’re going to meet one of them in semis, and if you play unbelievable, then one of them in the final.”
He continued: “Tough to say [if he can be the man to challenge Sinner and Alcaraz], because I lost a lot of matches against them, and I did lose again today against Jannik.
“I know that I can be a good tennis player, and I will try my best to, whoever is on the other side of the net, maybe it’s Carlos and Jannik, maybe it’s someone else, I will just try to play some good tennis, which I proved I can do again here, Dubai, Brisbane.
“So that’s my goal, because I think in general on one-match basis, anyone can challenge them. I mean, you saw Jakub beat Jannik in Doha, you saw, well, me beat Carlos here, stuff like this. So on one-match basis, a lot of guys can challenge that. I think it’s not right to say it’s only me or only Novak or whatever, only Sascha.
“But it’s definitely very tough, and that’s why, when you come to the end of the season, usually they have, like what, 60 wins, and I don’t know, 5, 6 losses, out of which four come from themselves, as well. So it’s not easy challenge, and you just need to try your best.”
Sinner, Alcaraz and Medvedev will now look ahead to the Miami Masters, which is due to start on Tuesday.
The Floridian event was last won by Jakub Mensik and is the second Masters 1000 tournament of 2026.
Jannik Sinner is the first Indian Wells Men’s Singles champion
Since the tournament was first established, no Italian man had lifted the Indian Wells trophy until Jannik Sinner did so on Sunday.
Sinner, who now has 25 ATP titles to his name, is the youngest in Masters 1000 history to win all six ATP hard-court Masters events.
John Newcombe, from Australia, was the first to win the Indian Wells title in 1974, beating Arthur Ashe in the final.
Since then, the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have all won the title.
Federer and Djokovic have won the most Indian Wells titles in history, with five each to their names.
