Daniil Medvedev mentioned he must “construct a greater model” of himself after Thursday’s ATP Finals defeat to Jannik Sinner ensured the Russian will finish the season with out a title for the primary time since 2017.
Former U.S. Open champion Medvedev was crushed 6-3, 6-4 by world primary Sinner in his remaining group match, leaving him no probability of reaching the final 4 within the season-ending match in Turin.
“I wish to be primary on the earth, however I didn’t play properly sufficient this 12 months, by far. Jannik is taking part in significantly better. He proved it many instances,” Medvedev informed reporters.
“However I’m quantity 4 within the huge tennis world. I’m tremendous proud about that as a result of, as I mentioned, particularly in the long run of the 12 months, I struggled all through the entire 12 months. Each follow, each match was a battle for me.
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“Earlier than I might really feel I had the sting on the opponent and win it straightforward. Now I wanted to win three units, tie-breaks, breaks in the long run of the set. I might put it (season) someplace on six and a half out of 10.”
Medvedev, who opted to skip ATP 250 occasions and solely play in larger tournaments this 12 months, reached the ultimate of the Australian Open and Indian Wells.
Requested about his plans for the pre-season, Medvedev mentioned: “We’re going to attempt to actually construct one thing a little bit bit new. I see proper now that it’s not ok, particularly in opposition to guys like Jannik and Carlos (Alcaraz).
“If we discuss purely techniques, I really feel like I performed effective. It’s simply execution… That’s what we’re going to work on so much in pre-season, to construct a little bit bit higher model of myself, which isn’t straightforward while you’re 28 years previous.
“About titles, I’m not that involved. I may have gotten some completely different tournaments. I mainly performed three 500s this 12 months and all the remainder was Masters and Grand Slams.