Daniil Medvedev has shared his motivation to regain the world No 1 ranking after handing it back to Novak Djokovic after just three weeks at the top. The 26-year-old became the first non-Big Four player to occupy the top spot in 18 years and could now get back there with a deep run at the Miami Open.
Medvedev reached the top of the rankings on February 28 after Djokovic lost in the Dubai quarter-finals but lost the world No 1 ranking just three weeks later after losing his first, and so far only match as the top-ranked player to Gael Monfils in Indian Wells. With the Serb absent from the ‘Sunshine Double’, Medvedev has a chance to steal the ranking back at the Miami Open before Djokovic’s return next month.
The world No 2 managed to get off to a winning start in Miami on Saturay by beating two-time former champion Andy Murray 6-4 6-2 to advance to the third-round. Having made it all the way to the quarter-final stage at the Hard Rock Stadium last year, he will need to reach at least the semis to return to the top of the rankings on the week of April 4. It was his three-set loss to Monfils in the Indian Wells second-round that lost him the ranking as he failed to defend his 2021 points and lost 250 ranking points for a title win in Marseille last year.
While it was disappointing to hand over the ranking so soon, the 13-time title winner has been sharing the motivation it gave him to get straight back to the top in Miami. “It felt good to touch it. It’s something that nobody can take away from me. Yeah, it’s like it’s done,” he admitted after his win over Murray.
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“Nobody can say, Yeah, but you were only, yeah, for two weeks, but I was there. Many, many, many great players, legends of our sport haven’t done this, so I’m happy about it.” Sharing the fire it gave him to fight for the ranking this week in Miami, he continued: “But definitely when I lost it, not playing good in Indian Wells, I was like, Yeah, okay, back to the practice court, have to make semis in Miami to get it back. Let’s try to do it.”
While the US Open champion isn’t getting ahead of himself in the draw just yet, he also admitted that regaining the No 1 spot by reaching the semi-final would give him an extra push to go one better and win the title in Miami for the first time. “I always prepare match by match, so for example, I’m not looking to semis here. I will be looking to the match against Pedro, [Martinez] but definitely I have a lot of motivation to try and get it back. The thing is that if I get it back by making semis, I’m going to have more motivation to try to win the tournament, because like this, I’m going to win 700 more points than for semis, and it’s going to be a bigger gap,” he said.
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