LONDON, July 9. /TASS/. Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedev advanced to the semifinals of the 2024 Wimbledon in London defeating on Tuesday world’s top racquet Jannik Sinner of Italy.
The 5th-seed Russian, who is playing under a neutral status at the prestigious Grand Slam tournament, outplayed his top-seed opponent Sinner with the final score of 6-7 (7-9); 6-4; 7-6 (7-4); 2-6; 6-3.
Earlier in the year, Sinner came back losing two sets to defeat Medvedev in the final of the 2024 Australian Open and later ruined him with straight-set win in the semifinals at the 2024 ATP Miami Open tennis tournament.
"I knew if I was going to beat Jannik it was going to be a tough match," the official ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) website quoted Medvedev as saying after his match with Sinner on Tuesday. "He is not a guy you are going to beat easily."
"At one moment he wasn't feeling too good but he started playing better and I am happy I managed to stay at a high level," Medvedev continued. "There were some great points, it was a great match and I am happy to win and I am looking forward."
During their tense duel in London today, the Italian player asked for a medical timeout in the third set and, according to the ATP "the Italian had his pulse checked by a doctor before he walked off court to receive further treatment."
"It is very tough because I could feel he wasn't moving that well," Medvedev commented when asked about Sinner’s physical shape. "You want to play more points to make him suffer a little bit more and at the same time you know at one point he is going to think he can't run anymore and will go full power and that is what he did."
"He had set points to win the third set. In a way I would have preferred to not have this situation but everything turned out well," he added.
In the next round, the Russian is set to face off against either 3rd-seed Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz or 12th-seed US player Tommy Paul.
Medvedev, 28, is currently fifth in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Rankings. In 2022, the top Russian racket spent sixteen weeks as the number one player in the world. He is the 2021 US Open Champion and has 20 ATP tournament titles under his belt. He won five of these 20 titles in 2023. Also, in 2021, he won the Davis Cup as well as the ATP Cup playing for the Russian national team.
The Wimbledon tournament, the most prestigious out of the four Grand Slam tournaments, has been held annually in London since 1877. This year’s Wimbledon runs between July 1 and 14 and offers $63 million in prize money. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic are the reigning Wimbledon champions in men’s and women’s singles respectively.
Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.
Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022 to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations while also canceling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.
On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.
However, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) allowed tennis players from Russia and Belarus to continue participating in WTA and ATP tournaments, but only under a neutral status.