Daniil Medvedev is looking to kickstart his 2025 campaign with a strong performance in Doha.
The former world number one has endured a tough start to the season, winning just a handful of matches on the ATP Tour.
Medvedev lost to Learner Tien at the Australian Open in a shocking defeat, having reached the final one year earlier.
The Russian star then traveled to the Netherlands for the Rotterdam Open, where he suffered another tough loss, as Medvedev fell to qualifier Mattia Bellucci in the second round.
Medvedev then lost to Hamad Medjedovic in Marseille, a tournament where the world number six was favorite to pick up the title.
A champion at the Qatar Open in 2023, the 29-year-old made his way to the Middle East in desperate need of a positive week.
Having dropped the first set, Medvedev looked in trouble once more before he made a bold change that he now admits could’ve seriously backfired.
Daniil Medvedev changed to ‘full power’ racket during Qatar Open match that could’ve seen him lose ‘6-0, 6-0’
Medvedev trailed his fellow Russian, Karen Khachanov, 4-6, when he took a risk that turned his fortunes around in Doha.
“I changed something, I have different rackets, at one moment in the match, I felt I would lose, so I changed my racket completely,” he said during his post-match interview.
“I took the racket that just fired full power.
“There can be days when I don’t put one ball in the court and I would lose 6-0 6-0.
“But as soon as I took it I was like, actually it helped me to get some power.
“I didn’t make many unforced errors; I’m happy about it.”
The change proved an effective one, as he battled back to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, to advance to the second round in Qatar.
Medvedev went on to explain why the differing courts and balls on the ATP Tour require him to change rackets regularly.
“It’s not the ideal way to change rackets during the match at every tournament,” he said.
“That’s what I have to do sometimes, almost every week, because every week is a completely different surface.
“Completely different balls.
“Marseille was actually pretty surprising, Rotterdam was slow, here was even slower.
“You cannot play with the same spec, in my opinion, unless you know how to accelerate the dead balls, which I don’t know how to.”
Medvedev has been outspoken about the balls and courts recently, making his feelings heard during his disappointing ATP Finals campaign last year.
“Every practice is a struggle, every match is a struggle,” he said.
“Now I feel zero pleasure of being on the court.”
Daniil Medvedev improves shaky 2025 ATP record with win over Karen Khachanov
With his opening-round win over Khachanov, Medvedev improved his 2025 record to 5-3 as he looks to better compete with his top-ten rivals.
| Win % rank | ATP Rank | Name | Win % | Win/Loss record |
| 1 | 1 | Jannik Sinner | 100 | 7-0 |
| 2 | 3 | Carlos Alcaraz | 91 | 10-1 |
| 3 | 8 | Alex de Minaur | 86 | 12-2 |
| 4 | 2 | Alexander Zverev | 83 | 10-2 |
| 5 | 5 | Casper Ruud | 82 | 9-2 |
| 6 | 9 | Tommy Paul | 75 | 9-3 |
| 7 | 7 | Novak Djokovic | 70 | 7-3 |
| 8 | 4 | Taylor Fritz | 67 | 8-4 |
| 9 | 6 | Daniil Medvedev | 63 | 5-3 |
| 10 | 10 | Andrey Rublev | 56 | 5-4 |
Two months into the tennis season, Medvedev has the second-worst record among the top ten, only bettering his fellow Russian Andrey Rublev.
World number ten Rublev also improved his record on Tuesday, as he took down Alexander Bublik in straight sets to qualify for the second round.
Another former champion in Doha, Rublev, will be searching for another title this week to get his 2025 season back on track.
Rublev will take on Nuno Borges, and Medvedev will face off against Belgian star Zizou Bergs on Wednesday for a place in the Qatar Open quarter-finals.
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