Daniil Medvedev will square off with Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon semi-finals today, with each player aiming to reach their first final at the All England Club.
Like world No 1 Alcaraz, Medvedev is a former US Open champion, having lifted the trophy in New York in 2021. That title, secured with a victory over Novak Djokovic, marks the Russian’s only major triumph.
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However, the world No 3 (formerly ranked No 1) also finished as runner-up at the US Open in 2019 – losing to Rafael Nadal – and the Australian Open in 2021 and 2022 – losing to Djokovic then Nadal. He is currently enjoying his best ever Wimbledon run, as is his opponent Alcaraz. In the quarter-finals, Medvedev overcame underdog Christopher Eubanks, ultimately seeing off the American in five sets.
Medvedev, 27, grew up in Moscow and has proved a divisive figure since bursting into the spotlight. His relatively frequent outbursts on court and arguments with umpires have led some fans to dislike the Russian, who often enjoys engaging with crowds anyway.
Medvedev, who missed Wimbledon in 2022 due to a ban on Russian and Belarusian players – imposed due to the invasion of Ukraine – has won 20 tour-level titles, including the ATP Finals in 2020 and six Masters trophies at six different tournaments. At 6ft 6in, the former world No 1 possesses a powerful serve, though he is also known for his consistent groundstrokes. Djokovic has previously described Medvedev as a “very complete” player, while Stefanos Tsitsipas once labelled the Russian “very boring” but “extremely smart”.
Meanwhile, Alcaraz this week echoed a past comment by Andrey Rublev, calling Medvedev an “octopus”. “He’s playing great here on grass,” Alcaraz said. “He has had a great, great year as well. He’s a really complete player; I think Rublev said a few times, he’s an octopus. He’s an amazing athlete. I lost the first match we played here on grass, so I have to learn [from] it.” Alcaraz was referring to a second-round clash between himself and Medvedev at Wimbledon two years ago, with the latter winning in straight sets.
In his victory over Eubanks this week, Medvedev struck an impressive 28 aces, and he joked after the near-three-hour match: “After the first set, for sure I didn’t want to go five; when I lost the third, I wanted to go five! There was a moment in the match where I completely lost the game itself, and he played well. I started to sink, I started to do a lot of mistakes, not serving well enough. But starting from the tiebreak, I managed to play amazing and I’m really happy about it.”
Medvedev will now aim for his fifth slam final, having been allowed back at the All England Club alongside his compatriots and Belarusian players. Wimbledon was the only one of the four grand slams to ban players from Russia and Belarus in 2022, but it was criticised by the men’s and women’s professional tours for doing so.
In response, Wimbledon was stripped of its ranking points and the Lawn Tennis Association was hit by a fine after the ban on Russian and Belarusian players was extended to the summer’s other grass-court events in Britain. But in March this year, the All England Club announced it had reversed its decision ahead of this year’s Wimbledon to allow Russian and Belarusian players to compete, as long as they agreed to several strict conditions.
