Daniil Medvedev, winner of the US Open tennis tournament, was almost French – Ouest-France evening edition – 09/13/2021 – Ouest-France

Russian Daniil Medvedev shattered Serbian Novak Djokovic’s Grand Slam dream on Sunday night by winning the US Open tennis tournament, his first major title. A player with a tempestuous character, the world n ° 2 speaks impeccable French. It must be said that 25 years ago, a month or so, he should have been born in France …

He considers himself “Like the most French foreigner in the Top 100”. After losing two finals, Daniil Medvedev won his first Grand Slam title last night. The 25-year-old Russian tennis player offered himself the scalp of Novak Djokovic, who remained on 27 consecutive wins in Major, thus preventing him from achieving the calendar Grand Slam (winning all four major tournaments in the same year) and breaking the record of Majors which he co-owns with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal (20).

25 years ago, his parents plan to settle in France

An atypical player with a tumultuous character, Medvedev could well have put an end to a 38-year Grand Slam shortage for France… In the early 1990s, Sergey and Olga, a Moscow couple, visited the French Alps. This is the heart stroke. While Olga Medvedeva is pregnant, they plan to move to France in March 1996. Except that little Daniil is in a hurry, the baby arrives a month before the due date, before his parents have had time. to leave Moscow.

Finally, the young Russian will never have French nationality on his identity papers. “The story is true, confirmed the world No. 2 after his victory at the Rolex Paris Masters in 2020. It was my parents’ decision. It wasn’t mine, I wasn’t born yet! Ultimately, this is not the case. I have no regrets about that, I can confirm that to you. To believe that I only wanted to be Russian (laughs). “

His trainer is French

No regrets, therefore, but fate seems to have wanted at all costs to bind Daniil Medvedev and France. Parents’ explanations, in an interview with Russian media Sport Express : “It was impossible for Daniil to ‘perform’ while training in Russia. We then looked for the perfect place to help him get there. We first thought of Finland or Sweden, it was close but not good enough in terms of tennis. We thought about it for a long time and when his sister left for the University of Nice, we started to visit her there and we understood that it was a good solution. “

So here is the young Muscovite who arrives on the Côte d’Azur at the age of 18. But the rudiments of French he learned in kindergarten – perhaps pushed by his parents – are now far behind him.

In 2014, he came to take a test in the Elite Tennis Center, a tennis school founded in Cannes by Jean-René Lisnard and a certain Gilles Cervara. The young phenomenon catches the eye of the latter, who will become a little later his official coach on the circuit.

“The start of our collaboration was complicated, says the winner of the US Open. He spoke French and I didn’t understand any of that language. Today we have a very good relationship. Besides being my trainer, I can say without hesitation that he is also my friend. We spend a lot of time together and it is very normal that sometimes there are small conflicts. “

“Every time I spoke French, everyone started to like me”

Cervara and Medvedev have become like cat and dog, over the course of a relationship that regularly turns to “I love you, me neither”. “There is a nice connection but no friendship or filial connection, had discarded Gilles Cervara for West France, during the last Roland-Garros. We have a coach-player relationship between two people who respect each other and, because they respect each other, have a strong relationship. “

But the pair still holds, and is more efficient than ever. Since then, and while his physical trainer is also French, Daniil Medvedev speaks the language of Molière fluently. “There aren’t many who speak French as well as I do, he again declared to Bercy, very happy to have finally been able to win in his adopted country. Winning, here, in Bercy, in France, it’s really beautiful. “

In Canada, at the Masters 1000 in Montreal, he even amused himself by the reception of the Quebec public towards him. “Every time I spoke French it was funny, everyone started to like me. I’m sure Montreal will always be one of my favorite tournaments. “

His “second home”

Since then, the Muscovite has lived in Monaco with his wife Daria, like his victim at the US Open, Novak Djokovic, also French-speaking. He even considers France as his “Second house”. From there to taking French nationality late, playing for France on the courts and giving reason to the old inclinations of his parents to leave?

“When you are an international tennis player, you have possibilities to play for France or other countries. There are a lot of Russians who play for Kazakhstan because some find there better funding for their careers. It is completely understandable. But I really wanted to play for Russia. I know I am Russian. “

To the chagrin of tennis France, which has been waiting for a successor to Yannick Noah since 1983.