Daniil Medvedev gives his honest thoughts on what it will take for him to beat Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in 2026

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Daniil Medvedev will look to bounce back in 2026 after a largely disappointing 2025 campaign.

Following a number of disastrous results, the Russian fell down the rankings to as low as 18th this season, having started the year 5th.

After crashing out of the US Open in round one, Medvedev parted ways with his longtime coach, Gilles Cervara, and appointed Thomas Johansson and Rohan Goetzke.

With Johansson and Goetzke, he enjoyed an impressive Asian swing, and claimed his first title in 882 days at the Almaty Open.

Should he hope to return to Grand Slam-winning level with his new team, he will need to be able to beat at least one of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner; a challenge that Medvedev recently discussed.

Daniil Medvedev talks about playing Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz

In an interview with Bolshe, the former world number one said: “I’ll be as honest as possible. There was a moment when I was third or fourth in the world, and I thought about it a lot (how to beat Sinner and Alcaraz).

“I mean, they had been beating me a lot. I had one great match against Sinner at Wimbledon. It wasn’t that far at the US Open, but a loss is still a loss.

“It’s generally difficult for me to play against Alcaraz due to his playing style.

“I really thought about it a lot during training and tried to come up with something with the old team, but it turned out that I didn’t even play them once last season.

“And that’s why honestly I couldn’t care less right now. That is, if I reach them somewhere, great. Unfortunately now, because of my ranking, it will be around the fourth round or quarterfinals.

“When the match is coming up, I’ll discuss with the team about what I will do against them.

“But I would say they need to be outplayed by the old Medvedev, with some of his new tricks.”

Daniil Medvedev’s record against Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz

Medvedev’s record against Sinner is much better than it is against Alcaraz, but most of his victories over the Italian came before 2024.

He won his first six meetings with Sinner, but has lost in eight of their last nine clashes at ATP Tour-level events.

Alcaraz leads the head-to-head with Medvedev 6-2, having emerged victorious in their four previous bouts.

Medvedev managed to beat the Spaniard in the semifinals of the 2023 US Open, as well as the second round of Wimbledon in 2021.