Ahead of his match in Madrid Open, World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev said that the 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz’s drop shots are very disguised and he is very interested to play against the Spaniard.
World No. 3 is set to kick off his 2023 Madrid Open campaign against either Andy Murray or Andrea Vavassori in the second round. The 19-year-old can go big and bold or display a deft feel around the court, sometimes drawing opponents in with a drop shot.
“They are very disguised. One out of two he’s going to make a drop shot, but the one he doesn’t make, it’s going to be a bomb forehand, so you can’t just run for it because then it’s going to be a winner. I’m going to be interested to play him more and more to try and see how I can handle this part better,” ATP.com quoted Medvedev as saying.
In last month’s BNP Paribas Open final, Alcaraz broke Medvedev’s 19-match winning streak with a 6-3, 6-2 victory that helped the 19-year-old return to World No. 1. In the second leg of the ‘Sunshine Double’, Medvedev was named champion in Miami after he brushed off a string of opponents who tried – but failed – to successfully imitate Alcaraz’s winning drop shot approach against ‘Deep-court Daniil’.
“I remember against [Carlos] in Indian Wells, I was like, ‘Yeah, I was not expecting this, the drop shot from this position!’ Then the next week in Miami I think a lot of guys maybe saw the final, so they started to do only drop shots against me. It’s not the same. It’s like, ‘Okay, continue doing it, I’m there!’ [and] against [Carlos], I’m not there. He’s playing great and everyone knows it. If you have him in your draw, it’s scary,” Medvedev said.
Medvedev will be in Madrid action on Saturday when he will meet Andy Murray or Italian qualifier Andrea Vavassori. While clay may not be his favourite surface, Medvedev believes his best chance to make a run on the red dirt could be in the Spanish capital.