Nick Kyrgios explains why ‘horrific’ Daniil Medvedev has surprised him
Nick Kyrgios says he is amazed at how well Daniil Medvedev has done in his career – as he thought the Russian was ‘horrific’ at junior level.
Medvedev has grown into one of the finest players in the men’s game, winning the US Open and reaching multiple Grand Slams finals.
He has also been the world number one and won the ATP Finals, so there is little doubt that his an absolute top player.
However, he also has an incredibly unique technique, rotating from his hips a lot less than is advised and using his arms more to generate the power instead.
These days that technique has been moulded to become the bedrock of consistently quality tennis, but back at junior level it was so bad that Nick Kyrgios though he should ‘just give it up.’
“For me, a guy I thought was going to be horrific was Medvedev,” Eurosport expert Kyrgios said during commentary of the Alex De Minaur versus Andrey Rublev match.
“I played against him in juniors in Roehampton and I won him by 6-3, 6-3. I was like the dominant junior and this boy was just terrible.
“He had the worst technique I’ve ever seen in my life. I honestly said that this guy should just give it up, that there was no way he was going to make it work with those things.
“Then he becomes number one in the world and a Grand Slam champion. It’s very funny, he was a nutter as well, like this just is crazy.
“Now you see Medvedev and he feels very comfortable playing on big courts, something I never saw when we were juniors.”
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