Russian Tennis Chief Attributes Medvedev's Wimbledon Loss to Unsuitable Play Style

Russia’s Daniil Medvedev played a brand of tennis that isn’t suited for the grass courts of Wimbledon, and that’s why he lost, President of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpishchev told TASS commenting on his ouster in the third round of this year’s tournament.

Medvedev, who played under a neutral status at the 2026 grass-court major, failed to clear the third round of this year’s third Grand Slam tournament after he fell last week 6-7(4); 6-7(5); 5-7 to Jan-Lennard Struff from Germany.

"You can’t play the kind of tennis Medvedev played on grass. Up like he was, in control of the match, to lose like that," Tarpishchev said. "Then came the unforced errors, which made the situation even worse."

"You have to play in a way so as to make things uncomfortable for your opponent, not all willy-nilly. That’s what you get," the Russian tennis chief added.

Medvedev, 30, is currently 9th in the ATP Rankings. He spent sixteen weeks as the world’s number one player in 2022. He previously won the 2021 US Open and holds 23 ATP titles. He won five of those 23 titles in 2023. Also, in 2021, he won the Davis Cup as well as the ATP Cup playing for the Russian national team.

This year’s Wimbledon takes place between June 29 and July 12 and offers a total of 74.5 million Euros [over $75 million] in prize money. Italy’s Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek of Poland are the reigning Wimbledon champions in men’s and women’s singles, respectively.

Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.

Following the IOC's recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022 to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations while also canceling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.

On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from taking part in the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.