Paris (AFP)
Russian Daniil Medvedev, ranked second in the world in tennis, will be out of action between one and two months to treat his hernia, according to what was announced Saturday, threatening his participation in the French Grand Prix Roland Garros, which begins on May 22nd.
Medvedev, 26, the reigning champion of Flushing Meadows 2021, tweeted on his official account on Twitter, “In recent months, I have been playing with a small hernia. I decided with my team to do a small (surgical) intervention to fix the problem, I will be out for 1-2 months, and I will work hard to get back on the field soon. Thanks for all the support.”
Medvedev had risen to first place in the world over a period of two weeks in early March, before falling to second place in favor of Serbian Novak Djokovic on the twenty-first of March.
Despite being a candidate to win the Miami Masters Tournament, the last Australian Open runner-up was eliminated from the quarter-finals by Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, the defending champion, 7-6, 6-3.
He looked exhausted in the match and took a long break in the locker room between the two sets, and asked for the intervention of a physical therapist following leaning several times on his racket.
“I wasn’t at my best during the match,” he told a news conference. After the tough points, I had a hard time catching my breath, I wasn’t recovering (from fatigue) very well, probably because of the heat, but I was dizzy, and I wasn’t able to hit the serve.”
The loss and the chance to reach the semi-finals prevented him from climbing once more to first place in the world.
Prior to that, Medvedev had lost the semi-finals of the Acapulco tournament to veteran Spanish star Rafael Nadal, who defeated him in Melbourne, and unexpectedly exited from the third round of the Indian Wells Masters tournament once morest Frenchman Gael Monfils.
The Russian won his first grand slam title in Flushing Meadows, USA, last September, depriving Djokovic of securing four Grand Slam titles in one year, and crowning his 21st major title, which Nadal later reached in Australia.
