Daniil Medvedev suffered the ultimate embarrassment for a tennis player yesterday afternoon, as he was obliterated by Matteo Berrettini in straight sets.
However, it was more than just a straight-sets victory.
The Italian claimed the win without dropping a single game, claiming a 6-0, 6-0 scoreline seldom seen at this level of the sport, particularly against a player ranked as highly as the world number 10.
Daniil Medvedev has never had a good relationship with the clay, but never before have we seen him dismantled so easily.
Paul Annacone and CoCo Vandeweghe, speaking on Tennis Channel, have desperately sought to find answers for what was a baffling Monte Carlo Masters scoreline.
Daniil Medvedev’s double bagel defeat in Monte Carlo analysed
The former began the analysis by explaining why the Russian has always struggled on this surface, offering crucial context behind such a damning result.
Annacone, who famously enjoyed spells coaching stars like Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, noted: “The three winners and 28 unforced errors. It’s just one of those things.
Will Daniil Medvedev ever win another title on clay?
Daniil Medvedev lost 6-0, 6-0 for the very first time!
“Daniil Medvedev has always had a horrible relationship with the clay.
“And I think so much of it is about the fact that he has no rotation on his ground strokes, because he can slide, he can move on the clay, plays deep in the court, the ball just kind of sits up. He generally waits for the game to come to him. On clay, it actually never gets to him.
“When he plays a match like this, he can go south quickly. But I give him credit, he really mostly tried. You could see the frustration, I thought, a player this level, it’s so rare to see a match drop like that.”
Vandeweghe would then add her own outlook, offering a positive view for the future even if the present might feel bleak: “Where he needs to make some inroads is when it comes to him getting to a faster clay court.
“He’s going to have Madrid coming up, he’s going to have Rome if it’s a warm condition day, and Roland Garros can play a lot quicker than these courts will play throughout the rest of the play court season.
“I think that’s one caveat that he has out there, but it’s always going to be a losing battle that he’s going to have to just find a happy medium. Okay, maybe [reaching the] third round, we are happy with a third round moment.”
She even proposed a radical solution for the Russian, stating: “Honestly, I don’t find it to be such a bad thing if you skipped one of those, whether it would be Rome, but probably if he was going to skip anything, just so he could find a little bit of happiness.
“Speaking from experience, clay was my least favourite surface, and I would usually skip Madrid or Rome, just so I would have a little bit of happiness going into the Roland Garros, because that’s where you want to peak.”
Medvedev has spoken for the first time since this painful defeat, offering a calmer and more measured reaction after being so furious whilst on court.
Matteo Berrettini achieves feat that even Rafael Nadal didn’t on clay
Although he has been retired for nearly two years now, Rafael Nadal’s legacy on clay still remains hugely relevant.
After all, whenever the surface is discussed, his name is never far behind.
For nearly 20 years, he exhibited a reign of terror on clay unlike anything the sport had ever seen before and likely will ever see again.
Will Daniil Medvedev ever win another Grand Slam title?
Practically nobody could beat him, and as such, he used to win almost every event played on the surface.
And yet, despite his dominance, Nadal never managed to do what Berrettini did yesterday: win a match on clay 6-0, 6-0.
Only the Italian, David Goffin and Alex de Minaur, can boast that accolade.
