‘They Can Seem Like Aliens’- Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic’s Mastery Reaffirmed by 27-Year-Old Russian Tennis Star as His Grass Court Troubles Continue

Grass courts remain a mystery for the former world no.1 Daniil Medvedev from Russia. It is still cryptic for him to decipher the secret key to major success in a grass court. He has never gone past the 4th round in Wimbledon and he would definitely want to change that at least in this year’s edition. Medvedev was found to be in awe of the two legends Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, who have made winning on grass courts seem so easy.

Thus, Medvedev made a jocular remark wondering if Djokovic and Federer are ‘aliens’ as their records even on this difficult surface, are quite stunning. The Hardcourt specialist, Daniil Medvedev has reached the finals of the Australian Open twice and won the US Open once in the year 2021.

Medvedev calls Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic aliens on grass courts

Things are going well for Daniil Medvedev. The world no.3’s preparations for Wimbledon have never been this smooth as he is the first man to get to 40 wins this calendar year after his first-round win at Halle.  He seems to have improved on grass at least a little, although he doesn’t look as comfortable while playing on hard courts. He says he admires and learns a lot from Federer and Djokovic while they play on this court.

With 2021 being his best year, he reached the finals of the hardcourt grand slams but couldn’t even reach the semis of either of the other two. “When I see top players like Roger [Federer] and Novak [Djokovic], from one side they can seem like aliens but you try to see the best in them, and how they are able on this surface, where it’s sometimes tricky to beat anyone, to have so many titles. Wimbledon, Halle, whatever.“It’s just amazing and that’s what I try to watch.”

Impressive records of Federer and Djokovic on grass

Roger Federer has a record 65-match winning streak on grass which seems quite daunting for anyone to break. Then comes Borg’s 41-match winning streak, followed by Djokovic’s unbeaten 28. Federer has won a record 19 grass-court titles. Djokovic has a chance to equal Federer’s record of 8 Wimbledon titles this year if he wins.

Read more: Roger Federer And His Incredible Records On Grass Courts

He has already established himself as one of the greatest grass-court players of all time. Federer has won a mammoth 192 matches on grass, the most by any player. Djokovic also has won more than a whopping 100 matches. These jaw-dropping records have made Medvedev call them aliens on this tricky surface.

Why is the transition from hard to grass difficult for Medvedev?

For Medvedev, the transition from hard to grass may be tough because of the unpredictable ball bounce and his net play. While Medvedev’s net play is improving it still isn’t up to the mark of winning Wimbledon or making it deep into the tournament. He is a natural and an instinctive baseliner and that hinders his net play. His reluctance to go to the net when compared to other elite players on grass sometimes is a problem. Yes, he has improved a lot over the years, but he needs to keep doing that regularly to find success on his most troublesome surface after clay. The deep return position also won’t aid him much over here on grass.

So it would be interesting to see how far he can go at this year’s championships. Federer himself admitted that grass is a tough surface. So on such a surface of great difficulty, for him and Djokovic to have these many records is mind-boggling.

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