Daniil Medvedev sees himself as being down similar lines to Novak Djokovic as opposed to the other members of the Big Three in Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in terms of his game style and overall play on court he admitted to Russian publication, M.Sport-Express.
Medvedev who is getting ready to play in the Monte-Carlo Masters also lauded Novak Djokovic for his persona off court reiterating previous points that he is the same whether you sit on one end of the tennis spectrum or the other. The former has previously said that he helped him when he was in the lower reaches of the rankings.
This of course paid off for Medvedev who went on to become a huge name in the sport and a Grand Slam champion something which sees him on a parallel at least in the modern era with someone like Novak Djokovic. He has faced the Serbian kingpin on 15 occasions winning just five of those. While against Nadal, he has only one once. Federer even worse with three losses in all three matches. So only really one and two at most records can be improved by him.
He also sees the game styles as a process of elimination with Nadal being left-handed and tenacious on court and Federer’s style being the complete opposite to his own. But more on the thought process in his own mind that he is like Djokovic when he started his career instead of now when he has evolved more.
“Stylistically, I’ll say that in some ways I’m more like Novak when he was younger. I think that his tennis is different now than at the beginning of his career. Rafa is left-handed and Roger plays tennis, which is far from mine. Therefore – Djokovic,” Medvedev told Russian publication m.sport-express.
“I respect Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Andy Murray for a lot of things. I grew up on their tennis,” he said. “He [Novak Djokovic] always treated me with the same respect – no matter how old I was or what place I was in the ranking. He treats many people this way, and it deserves respect.”