Appointment court: Daniil Medvedev returned to top form

If you look at the scoreboard of the Indian Wells main court after the men's final, it will say that Daniil Medvedev lost to Yannick Sinner in two sets. And it really is. But there is something about which there is no information on the scoreboard: Medvedev is back. He returned not only to the top 10, from where he ousted Alexander Bublik at the end of the tournament, but also, more importantly, to the elite level of tennis. Daniil knocked out world number one Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals, and in the title match he gave Yannick a fight without giving the Italian any of his serves and showed an excellent game in the Californian heat.

On the verge of a record

Against the background of such an excellent performance, one can even forget that Medvedev might not have been able to get to Indian Wells in time at all. After Dubai, where Daniil won the title again for the first time in his career, he was stuck in the UAE in the company of Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov and a number of other tennis players, coaches and tour staff. After sitting there for several days waiting for the sky to open, the Russians eventually left by car for Oman and flew from there, having great adventures getting to Los Angeles, and then to Indian Wells. Rublev and Khachanov lost their first singles matches after such flights, albeit in a hard fight, but Medvedev didn't care, and he reached the finals without losing a set to his rivals!

Daniil's series of games reached 18 by the time of the final. The Russian was one step away from repeating his own record set back in 2019: then he won 19 sets in a row. At the same time, Medvedev's task was the most difficult — to defeat Alcaraz and Sinner in a row. He had never been able to do this before, and there were almost no opportunities. Daniil had beaten Carlos only twice before the current Indian Wells, and during the first victory, at Wimbledon 2021, the Spaniard was still only a promising young talent, and by no means a top one. Then Medvedev got the better of Alcaraz in the semifinals of the 2023 US Open, but then the main boss was not Sinner, but Novak Djokovic, who confidently beat Daniil in the final of that tournament. The only time Medvedev faced Sinner and Alcaraz in a row was at Wimbledon 2024. In the quarterfinals, he unexpectedly defeated Yannick in five games, then took the opening set from Carlos in the semifinals, but that was the end of his success.

If Alcaraz led Medvedev 6:2 in personal meetings, then Sinner was almost equal — 8:7 in favor of the Italian. But there is an important detail.: Daniil won the first six matches, that is, for the last nine matches the score is 8:1 in favor of Yannick. And we have already remembered that relatively recently the Russian defeated him at Wimbledon — and on the hard court he suffered eight defeats in a row from Sinner. The last success was back in 2023 in the Miami finals.

Among other things, a complete collection of hardcore "masters" was at stake for both of them. In Indian Wells, Daniel's best result until this year was the final, and Yannika's was the semi-final. Both reached these stages in 2023 and 2024, and both lost there twice to Alcaraz.

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Seven in a row

Medvedev managed not only to start, but also to hold the entire final match with Sinner on equal terms. Daniel continued to follow the same line as in previous matches of the tournament, including the semifinal with Carlos, entering the court, building up the pace, attacking. Yes, it didn't always work out, because Yannick himself likes to do exactly the same thing. But often, Medvedev's creative, not technically perfect, but cool performance game bore fruit and baffled Sinner.

At the same time, Yannick served and held his games virtually flawlessly. During the entire match, Daniil managed to take only four (!) draws on the opponent's first serve, and in the first set it happened only once. It is not surprising that the Russian could not reach the break points in this situation. However, Medvedev also held his serve well, and in the only game with break points, he took a big chance on time, including going to the net! In the tiebreak of the first game, the tennis players also gave each other almost no chances at the reception, and Yannick had only one mini-break, made with the score 6:6.

In the second set, under the scorching California sun, it was a little harder for both of them than in the first game, but both held on well. In the end, Daniil finished his last game in a beautiful style, reaching the tie-break again, and this time he immediately took the lead — and not with some small advantage, but as much as 4:0! In the fourth draw, Yannick even made a double mistake, and it seemed that it would come to a decisive set. But first, Medvedev softened the second serve and got a straight shot, then another cable prevented him from completing the attack — and Sinner returned to the game. As a result, the outcome turned out to be as offensive as possible: the Italian took seven points in a row and won the title.

Joy for Daniel

Yannick became the third tennis player in history after Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic to win all the hard-court Masters. Andy Murray missed Indian Wells, Andre Agassi missed the second Masters in the hall in front of Paris. By the way, Agassi awarded the tennis players after the final, and the organizers congratulated Andre on the 25th anniversary of his victory on these courts.

Well, all the other tennis players, except Medvedev, were not even one step away from such an achievement as a complete collection of "masters" on the hard court. Even the great Rafael Nadal did not have enough of two such tournaments at once — Miami and Paris. Perhaps Daniel will be able to join the elite company next year. In the meantime, he can focus on Miami and further rise in the rankings, because he needs very few points to defend at the next major tournaments. And Medvedev's return to a high level of play was noted by both Alcaraz and Sinner, both adding that they were glad to see such tennis performed by Daniil.

—Daniil played the tournament at a very good level, fought well in the finals," two—time Grand Slam tournament winner Andrei Olkhovsky told Izvestia. — In terms of Dan's level, he approaches Alcaraz, Sinner. If there are stable results, which he showed at this tournament, then it is quite realistic to finish the year in the top three or in the top four. I liked the tempo of Medvedev's game. He served well, but he can still add. The change of coach is paying off so far.

The Russian is coached by Thomas Johansson and Rohan Götzke. Daniel started working with them after he stopped working with Gilles Servara after the 2025 US Open.