Daniil Medvedev is a unique tennis player, yet has just endured another campaign in 2026 that left many surprised.
After all, despite being an unorthodox player to watch, his style has troubled some of the very best over the years, propelling him to a Grand Slam title, another five finals, and world number one on two separate occasions.
One cannot attain such accolades by chance, making his drop-off over the last 24 months so startling.
In 2023, the Russian enjoyed a fine season where he won five titles, two of which were at the Masters 1000-level. However, this kick-started a barren spell that was only broken in October of 2025, failing to win a title across 882 days.
Fortunately, despite such a tough period, Daniil Medvedev has insisted he is not edging towards retirement.
Daniil Medvedev shares the reason why he’s still playing tennis
In fact, speaking in St Petersburg at a recent exhibition match, the 29-year-old explained why his current ranking is actually fuelling his continued presence on the ATP Tour.
He sits 13th in the world, dropping off from fifth at the end of 2024, and third in 2023.
Asked about his current place in the standings, Medvedev admitted: “If I finish 2026 in the same ranking? That wouldn’t satisfy me much, and that’s a good thing.
“That’s why I keep playing tennis. If I were satisfied with my ranking, I think it would be time to retire.”
He continued with a message of hope: “So I just hope I can play at least as well as I did at the end of this year, because it wasn’t bad.
“But I know I can play even better than at the end of the season in terms of consistency. Because some matches were fantastic. For example, the match against [Alex] De Minaur in the quarter-finals in Shanghai. You can’t play better than that.
“However, in terms of consistency, I could have played better. So I’m going to work on my fitness so I can keep up the pace and play well in several tournaments in a row, like before. And, of course, from a tennis perspective, I just hope I can play well from one tournament to the next.”
It seems he has great hope for all of Russian tennis too, as Medvedev also said what he thinks will happen to Mirra Andreeva in 2026.
When Daniil Medvedev finally won his first Grand Slam title
Although his story was not one of constant heartache, Medvedev certainly had to dig deep to win that maiden major title.
After all, before he eventually claimed that honour at the 2021 US Open, he had lost two finals.
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Ironically, his most recent defeat at that stage in Melbourne came to the very man he’d have to overcome in New York if he was to break his hoodoo.
In the end, it was an inspired performance, as he won in three straight sets to finally claim the ultimate prize.
He has since lost another three Grand Slam finals, having only ever been beaten at that stage by Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Jannik Sinner.
