Daniil Medvedev’s 2025 campaign hasn’t gone quite to plan as he now prepares for the clay-court season.
The Russian star made his first appearance this year at the Australian Open, where Medvedev was stunned by Learner Tien in the second round.
Defeats to lower-ranked players Mattia Bellucci, Hamad Medjedovic, and Tallon Griekspoor followed, as the former US Open champion struggled for form.
He suffered another shock defeat at the Miami Open when Medvedev lost to Spain’s Jaume Munar, 2-6, 3-6.
Reflecting on the Russian’s rough start to 2025, one ATP legend highlighted the area of Medvedev’s game that has regressed over the years.
Andy Roddick thinks Daniil Medvedev’s serve has become a ‘massive’ problem recently
Speaking on his Served with Andy Roddick podcast, former world number one Andy Roddick shared his thoughts on Medvedev.
“One of the things that was weird when I was looking at the rankings, [Daniil] Medvedev not in the top ten, he just feels like he’s a fixture, he does not leave,” he said.
“I don’t see much difference between his game from the baseline, and I know people are talking about that, [but] it’s all serve.
“His % of service games held in 2021, 2022, and 2023 was between 86 and 89%, which is a big number; close to 90% is a big number, especially when you break as much as he does.
“It plummets in 2024 to below 80%”
Daniil Medvedev’s service games won % by year
- 2025 – 82%
- 2024 – 79%
- 2022 – 88%
Roddick went on to explain just how big an impact a drop in service games won % can have on a player at the top level.
“If you take variants of six, seven, eight percentage points on service games held that’s the difference between flirting with number one like he was and being number 11 in the world,” he said.
“Losing that edge, first serve % comes down, you’re having to defend second serves a lot more.
“There were matches when he played people [ranked] 50 or 60 in the world where he wouldn’t even think about losing serve, and I think that’s the biggest delta between Medvedev a couple of years ago and Medvedev right now is just him landing serve.”
The American thinks Medvedev’s coaching team should be alarmed by those numbers and gave further insight into how easy service games can help a player’s all-around game.
“I don’t know that I’ve noticed any technical differences, if I’m in his camp, those numbers are screaming at me,” said Roddick.
“When you’re rolling through service games and all of a sudden you play a 30-30 point and you’re making your opponent play all the time and you’re opponent knows they’re probably not going to break.
“The pressure mechanism on that, versus when you’re holding less than 80% of the time, every ball matters a little bit more, and the difference between one and 11 is six or seven percentage points.”
Medvedev’s serving was particularly poor in his most recent defeat to Munar in Miami, winning just 62.5% of his service games.
| Player | Service games won % | First serve % | Win % on first serve | Win % on second serve |
| Daniil Medvedev | 62.5 | 60 | 63 | 53 |
| Jaume Munar | 100 | 60 | 78 | 67 |
The Russian won 63% of his first serve points as he fell to a dismal straight set defeat to the world number 55.
Can Daniil Medvedev turn his 2025 season around on the clay?
Medvedev has historically struggled on clay courts, which isn’t great news for the 29-year-old as tennis transitions onto the red stuff for the next few months.
That’s not to say he hasn’t won big tournaments on the surface, however, as his most recent title triumph came on clay at the 2023 Italian Open.
The former world number one dropped just one set in Rome two years ago, lifting the title with an impressive victory over Denmark’s Holger Rune.
- 2023 Italian Open F – Daniil Medvedev beat [7] Holger Rune, 7-5, 7-5
- 2023 Italian Open SF – Daniil Medvedev beat [5] Stefanos Tsistipas, 7-5, 7-5
- 2023 Italian Open QF – Daniil Medvedev beat Yannick Hanfmann, 6-2, 6-2
- 2023 Italian Open 4R – Daniil Medvedev beat [19] Alexander Zverev, 6-2, 7-6
- 2023 Italian Open 3R – Daniil Medvedev beat [31] Bernabe Zapata Miralles, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3
- 2023 Italian Open 2R – Daniil Medvedev beat Emil Ruusuvuori, 6-4, 6-2
On the other hand, his performances at the French Open leave a lot to be desired, reaching just one quarter-final in his eight visits to Roland Garros.
| Year | Round lost in | Opponent | Score |
| 2024 | 4R | Alex de Minaur [11] | 6-4, 2-6, 1-6, 3-6 |
| 2023 | 1R | Thiago Seyboth Wild | 6-7, 7-6, 6-2, 3-6, 4-6 |
| 2022 | 4R | Marin Cilic [20] | 2-6, 3-6, 2-6 |
| 2021 | QF | Stefanos Tsitsipas [5] | 3-6, 6-7, 5-7 |
| 2020 | 1R | Marton Fucsovics | 4-6, 6-7, 6-, 1-6 |
| 2019 | 1R | Pierre-Hugues Herbert | 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 5-7 |
| 2018 | 1R | Lucas Pouille [15] | 2-6, 3-6, 4-6 |
| 2017 | 1R | Benjamin Bonzi | 7-5, 4-6, 1-6, 3-6 |
It remains to be seen if Medvedev can turn his fortunes around when the 2025 French Open begins on Sunday, May 25.
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