Daniil Medvedev says he found a ‘good answer’ which could change tennis and Rafael Nadal agrees

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Daniil Medvedev has begun his ATP Finals campaign with a win and a loss, leaving himself a chance to qualify for the semi-finals in his final match.

Medvedev is looking to win the ATP Finals for a second time in his career after he took home the title in the final London edition of the event in 2020.

The Russian was heavily criticized for a lack of effort in his opening match at this year’s tournament, as Medvedev lost to Taylor Fritz in straight sets.

The 28-year-old then bounced back in his second group match, as Medvedev comfortably beat Alex de Minaur, all but ending the debutants’ chances of reaching the semi-finals.

It comes after a long season for Medvedev who has played 64 matches on the ATP Tour in 2024, something that he thinks needs to be looked at.

Daniil Medvedev and Rafael Nadal agree on potential ATP Tour schedule change

Speaking following his ATP Finals victory over De Minaur, Medvedev suggested a change to the current ATP calendar.

“About the schedule, I think I’ve found a good answer from my side,” he said.

“This year I tried to only play big tournaments, and I think I only played three [ATP] 500s.

“I think somehow there should be more bigger, important tournaments, which should be like, these are the tournaments where we find who is going to be in the top ten, like Masters 1000s, where you play good in them and you will be there [top ten].

“The schedule should somehow be around them, there should not be a 250 after Paris Bercy, where Casper [Ruud], Andrey [Rublev], and Alex [de Minaur] have to go there and they withdraw or something.”

Ruud, Rublev, and De Minaur all withdrew from last week’s ATP 250 events in Metz and Belgrade after their place in Turin was confirmed by Novak Djokovic’s withdrawal from the ATP Finals.

Medvedev went onto recall a tennis legend who had a similar idea for the sport.

“I remember Rafa [Nadal] once said it, the season should finish earlier, and then you put all the 250s after for the people that want to continue playing,” he said.

“If you’re good enough you finish the season in whenever, October?

“I think that’s something to consider, it should be different.”

Rafael Nadal is set to retire from tennis this month, after suffering with a number of injuries in recent years.

Nadal won 92 titles during his career as a professional, just ten of those coming at ATP 250 level.

How different would the ATP top ten look without ATP 500 and ATP 250 events?

Medvedev and Nadal seem on board with the idea of focusing on the Grand Slam and Masters 1000 events, but would the rankings look much different without the smaller tournaments?

The top four wouldn’t see any real change in their rankings if ATP 500s and 250s were discounted, but lower down in the top ten there are a number of changes.

Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas both make big jumps, having performed better at the bigger tournaments in 2024.

It is however interesting to see that the main structure of the top ten remains the same, potentially suggesting that doing away with the smaller tournaments could be good for the biggest names in tennis.

Others would argue that devaluing ATP 250 tournaments would harm tennis’ ecosystem, as there are a lot of players reliant on these tournaments to gain prize money and points on the ATP Tour.

Whether a change to the schedule is on the horizon remains to be seen, but Medvedev will first have to focus on his final group stage game against Jannik Sinner on Thursday.