Medvedev: "I'm sure I can come back stronger".

Daniil Medvedev hasn't been at his best tennis-wise recently.

After a premature defeat by Learner Tien at the Australian Open, this time he was eliminated in the second round by Mattia Bellucci at the ATP 500 Rotterdam.

So much so that rumours of his retirement began to surface. The Russian of course denied this: "I love tennis, I still earn a lot of money, so I'll keep playing as long as I can.

If I leave the Top 100 of the ATP rankings, I don't know... But that's something that probably won't happen. I'm sure I can come back stronger.

I'm not playing my best tennis right now.
I'm pretty sure I can come back strong enough.

The question is, when? Tomorrow? Next month? 12 months from now? That, I don't know."

The Russian will be back in action next week at the ATP 250 Marseille, where he has been awarded a wild-card, to build up his playing time and confidence ahead of the important Indian Wells and Miami dates.