Last year’s US Open finalist Daniil Medvedev addressed the current controversy about Jannik Sinner after his first round victory.
The back-end of 2019 proved to be the making of Daniil Medvedev, with the Russian winning 29 of his 32 matches and reaching four finals.
Three times a finalist in Flushing, Medvedev’s first and only major title has come in New York as he denied Novak Djokovic a calendar grand slam in 2021.
Medvedev has however endured a comparatively disappointing hard court season so far with early exits in Montreal and Cincinnati.
Unclear if he’ll be totally able to turn his fortunes around in time, the Russian picked up a first round win in four sets over Dusan Lajovic – a player who had got the better of Medvedev in their last two meetings.
Daniil Medvedev agrees with Taylor Fritz over the Jannik Sinner controversy
With news that Jannik Sinner had escaped a drugs ban after twice testing positive for the prohibited substance clostebol, Medvedev was quizzed about the ongoing matter.
Taylor Fritz’s comments about Sinner saw the American take a rather flat tone in his response. He suggested that only the Italian knew the truth, and that attention should be focused on lower-profile players who have suffered more extreme penalties over doping allegations.
Medvedev said in his press conference: “I think my perspective is a little bit – I saw Taylor and I really liked what he said. He said it’s only him that knows what happened exactly, so we cannot know. We cannot know the exact truth except him, his team and the independent tribunal.”
Similar to how Fritz highlighted the less favourable fortunes of other players, the Russian added: “I just hope that this situation can be the same for every player because I think what he did was within the rules, it’s just the rules are a little vague.”
Who is Daniil Medvedev set to play next at the US Open?
The fifth seed avoided an upset in the first round and has broadly found success at the grand slam tournaments this year.
After an agonising defeat to Sinner in the Australian Open final, Medvedev avenged the world number one to reach the last four at Wimbledon, before defeat came at the hands of eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz.
His next opponent is a player who has previously got the better of Alcaraz, who the Russian is yet to face.
Hungarian 24-year-old Fabian Marozsan has fallen from his career high ranking of 36 to outside the top 50.
A positive opening result saw Marozsan fight back against Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic, eventually progressing in five sets.
With doubts over Medvedev’s form, the former finalist will need to sharpen up as the tournament progresses, with his half of the draw the far more competitive.
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