Daniil Medvedev has landed himself in hot waters. After his recent defeat to Jiri Lehecka in the R32 of the Cincinnati Masters, the 28-year-old Russian tennis star is currently going through a tough phase. He made quite a few deep runs in his previous tournaments but has failed to win a title this year. Adding more to the worries of the 2021 US Open champion is his two consecutive second-round exits in Montreal and Cincinnati. The way things look like at the moment, he may yet again be handed a tough draw at the 2024 US Open.

We saw what happened to him at Wimbledon. He had to face Jannik Sinner in the QF and although he won that match in a five-set thriller, Alcaraz showed him the exit door in the semis. This Thursday Medvedev was stunned by a defeat against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the Canadian Open. The Spaniard, ranked 43rd, pulled off a major upset, defeating Medvedev in straight sets, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2. It was a rare hard-court loss for the Russian against an opponent outside the top 20. This along with the second round exit at Cincinnati makes it almost certain that Medvedev will be the fifth seed at the US Open. This means he’ll be playing one of the Top 4 players yet again in the QF in New York.

If we take a look at the ATP Live Rankings, currently Medvedev sits at the fifth spot with 6275 points. Alexander Zverev is currently placed at the fourth spot with 6645 points. So, that’s a clear 370-point difference between the two. The German is all set to take on Russia’s Karen Khachanov in the R32 in just a few hours from now. He’ll be keen to take some lead from the number 5, with a good performance in Cincinnati.

Last year, Medvedev tried to play the role of a disruptor at the US Open. He managed to reach the finals after beating Andrey Rublev and Carlos Alcaraz respectively in the QF and SF. What lies ahead of him in New York this year? We need to wait a bit to get this answer, but there was another incident during his recent match in Cincinnati that caught the eyes of the tennis fans.

Medvedev given a code violation by the chair umpire in Cincinnati

Nothing went right, for Medvedev in that match against Lehecka. He was seen struggling to snatch each and every point, he hit 7 double faults in that match. Medvedev was frustrated, and this frustration led to another controversy. He was handed a code violation by the chair umpire Aurelie Tourte for allegedly using foul language. The incident took place in the second and decisive set of the match and Medvedev was seen getting engaged in a heated exchange with the umpire.

He asked the umpire, “Why are you giving me a code violation? I’m talking to myself. What’s the problem? In the other match, when I was talking to myself, you didn’t do anything. I’m speaking to myself.. what’s the problem?” However, the umpire looked pretty much unmoved and she stuck to her decision. She told Medvedev that she had heard what he had said to her.

Probably the Russian tennis star, couldn’t restrict his frustration to himself. But one thing is pretty much sure, that Medvedev is not having a good time in 2024. Now, it will be interesting to see how he wraps up this season. Do you he really has a chance at the 2024 US Open?