World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev says his mentality going into every tournament is to win it but admits it will likely be Rafael Nadal who will finish the season at the top ranking. Medvedev, who reached the top ranking for the first time in late February, is in danger of losing the top spot in the next two weeks.
Medvedev is just 775 points ahead of Alexander Zverev and he is set to defend 1,000 points at the Montreal Masters. Zverev is out of Montreal as he is still recovering from an ankle injury but he could easily replace Medvedev if the Russian loses early in Montreal.
Since Medvedev and Zverev have a lot of points to defend in the rest of the year – while Nadal doesn’t have a single point to defend after this week – the Spaniard is the one who has the best shot at finishing the year top ranked.
“For sure I’m watching [the battle for No. 1] a little bit,” Medvedev told the ATP website. “Depends also the moment because I know at the end of the year, unless I try to win every tournament that is left, it’s probably going to be Rafa [Nadal] for [year-end No.
1]. But at the same time, I can keep it for quite a long time I feel like if I play good here in the [North American hard-court swing]”.
Medvedev: Winning tournaments is the key
“I know that the most important is to try to win tournaments, try to win those points,” Medvedev added.
“Then you can keep [World No. 1]”. Before Medvedev heads to Montreal, he will try to win this week’s ATP event in Los Cabos. Medvedev has a first round bye in Los Cabos he plays wildcard Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez or a qualifer in the last-16.
“Every opponent can be tough so the more matches you win, the more confidence you gain, the more you start feeling your game better, what you have to do better, so that’s what I’m going to try to do here in Los Cabos,” Medvedev said.
