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What's the story?
In a recent interview, former World No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam winner Marat Safin, stated that his compatriot Daniil Medvedev could eclipse his achievements in tennis as the youngster is calmer than he was during his playing days.
In case you didn't know...
Medvedev has had a stellar year, and is widely considered the leading light of the 'NextGen'. In 2019 he became just the ninth male player since 2000 to reach nine ATP finals during the course of a single season, and the 13th player since 1990 to reach three straight Masters 1000 finals.
He ended up winning two of those - in Cincinnati and Shanghai - and also reached the US Open final where he narrowly lost to Rafael Nadal.
However, his success on the court was not the only thing grabbing the headlines this year. Medvedev also had several outbursts at umpires and arguments with spectators, leading many to call him the 'bad boy' of tennis - just like Safin himself was during his playing days.
The heart of the matter
Safin was asked in his interview whether he thought Medvedev was following in his predecessor's footsteps with his fiery on-court behavior. But the elder Russian disagreed.
“No I don’t think so, I think we are a lot opposite to each other. But, well, I think he is calmer and he has better chances to achieve more goals than I did because he’s calmer,” Safin said.
Safin also stated that experience will help Medvedev to eventually beat the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
“It’s difficult to compete when they have a lack of experience because these matches are decided on just one or two shots. He needs to grow up, he needs to have more experience to be able to beat Rafa or Federer in the finals. Otherwise it’s difficult," Safin added.
What's next?
Safin's comments seem absolutely on point, especially when considering the US Open final which was ultimately won due to Nadal's experience in the important moments. Whether Medvedev is a 'bad boy' or not is secondary; the most important thing is for the Russian to continue his stellar 2019 into 2020.
