Simon looks back on his collaboration with Medvedev: "The box is the most unpleasant moment with him"
World No. 13, Daniil Medvedev has not shone this season. The Russian has won only one Grand Slam match in 2025, but he nonetheless ended a drought of more than two years without a title at the Almaty tournament, where he defeated Corentin Moutet to claim the title.
The year for the 29-year-old player was also marked by the end of his collaboration with Gilles Cervara, who had been his coach since 2017. For L'Équipe, Gilles Simon, who worked in Medvedev's box last season, discussed the personality of the 2021 US Open winner.
"The box is the most unpleasant moment with him. He is extremely pleasant off the court, but when he is on the court in a match, he has a little monster inside to deal with that is not easy to manage. It's a shame that it comes out like that, but I knew it before working with him.
Everything else was nothing but happiness. We have a player who has won a lot, who is 28 years old, who has very strong convictions and it's important for him to have them, but it's even harder to change in those cases, when two players like Alcaraz and Sinner have moved ahead and you have to try something else.
We improved many things, which showed a lot in training, but in a match it's different. When we get to 4-4, 5-5, do I have the courage to apply these changes? Or do I play the way I've always won before?
We had a first disconnect at the US Open, where he spent his tournament returning from far back, which was not justified tactically. He knew he was going to beat the players he beat by returning from far back, Marozsan, Borges, etc. But my analysis was that he was not preparing for his quarterfinal against Sinner by acting like that," Simon stated.
