Daniil Medvedev, the Russian tennis player ranked number 3 in the world, participates in official tournaments without his nation's flag. This is a consequence of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The International Tennis Federation (ITF), in fact, in March 2022 announced the cancellation of all tournaments scheduled in Russia and Belarus and the suspension of both national teams from all team competitions. ATP and WTA, concurrently, have established that athletes of Russian and Belarusian nationality can continue to compete in all organized tournaments, but without a flag.
Medvedev, for his part, has repeatedly spoken out against the war unleashed by his country, expressing solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Last May in an interview he declared: "Regarding the situation of the war, I've said it many, many times: no one in this world, including Russian or Belarusian athletes, supports the war. No one. How can we support the war? If our words could stop the war, we would do it. But unfortunately, it is not in our hands. My message is to bring joy to people by showing my best tennis".
Who is Medvedev
Daniil Medvedev was born in Moscow on February 11, 1996. He is considered one of the strongest tennis players of his generation, able to break the dominance of the Big Three (Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer) in the world ranking by becoming 1st in 2022.
His tennis career began in 2011 at just fifteen years old and in the Russia F1 Futures tournament he won his first ATP points. The following year he participated in the ITF Futures circuit but was out in the first round. In 2013 he received a wild card to participate in the ATP 250 in Moscow, but was defeated by his countryman Baluda.
The professional career
After the first tournaments, in 2014 Medvedev began to play more steadily and in August he raised his first ITF trophy by winning the Georgia F1 doubles final. Towards the end of the year, he won his second doubles title at the Future France F18. On April 12, 2015, he won his second ITF singles title and in the following months also Russia F1. After failing to qualify in several ATPs, Medvedev reached the semifinals of a Challenger tournament in Shanghai.
In 2016 he achieved victory in a Challenger tournament and thanks to other successes he reached the 98th position in the ranking. In 2017 he reached an ATP final for the first time, at the Aircel Chennai Open. The following year, he raised the bar and won three circuit titles, entering the Top 20 of the ranking. 2019 is the turning point. Medvedev won 4 ATP titles, including the US Open final and two Masters 1000, rightfully entering the top 5 tennis players in the world. While in 2020 he won the ATP Finals, in 2021 he triumphed in the US Open, interrupting Djokovic's run, who aimed to complete the Slam having won the previous three Masters 1000. 2022 is a difficult year for Medvedev, because despite reaching the first position in the world thanks to the Australian Open final and two ATP titles won, he began to drop in performance. Last year, however, he recovered by winning the Masters in Miami and Rome, reaching the finals at Indian Wells and the US Open as well as the Wimbledon semifinal.
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