ATP Tour

Would Medvedev play the hero or villain in a US Open movie?

You can always count on Daniil Medvedev for a thorough response to a question, no matter what.

Following his second-round victory against Sebastian Gorzny at the US Open on Tuesday, Medvedev proved that once again. The 30-year-old has had quite the relationship with the New York major, having lifted the trophy in 2021 but also endured a chaotic first-round defeat in 2025. So, if the US Open were a movie, would Medvedev play the hero or the villain?

“It’s super easy,” Medvedev, the former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, responded. “The film is, what, two hours? You know this type of movie where you don’t really know what the ending is and you try to guess who the bad guy is? I want to be the guy who, when you watch the movie, you think almost until the end that ‘He’s the bad guy. He’s not good.’

“Then at the last second of the movie, you understand that he was the best guy ever and there was some other guy who was the villain.”

If that sounds familiar, there is a good reason. Medvedev has never been short of plot twists. He reached the 2019 US Open final, won the title in 2021 by defeating Novak Djokovic, then suffered a chaotic first-round defeat to Benjamin Bonzi in 2025.

That loss was part of a difficult year, as Medvedev missed the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time since 2019, ending a run that included his 2020 triumph at the prestigious season finale. But in 2026, he won titles in Brisbane and Dubai, reached the Indian Wells final and is now seventh in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin.

And perhaps that is the key to understanding what keeps Medvedev going. For all the talk of rankings, titles and season finales, he says his motivation is actually rather simple.

“I feel like in life I’m a happy person, but still whenever you lose two first rounds, you don't feel good in your everyday life,” Medvedev said. “You win a couple of matches — maybe your life is not great for whatever reason — but you’re like, ‘Everything is good’.

“I just try to do what I have to do. I try to win some matches because it brings me joy. When I lose, I try to find joy outside somewhere. In general, I just try to be happy about life.”