His 13th week as the world's No. 1-ranked tennis pro will be celebrated at the Lindner Tennis Center in Mason.
Russian Daniil Medvedev, 26, hopes to extend the streak to 14 but has a pair of Spaniards hot on his trail. Rafael Nadal, who has not played in this event since 2017 is the No. 2 seed and is currently ranked third. Carlos Alcaraz, 17 years younger than Nadal, is the world's No. 4 player. World No. 2 and defending Western & Southern champ Alexander Zverev is skipping this year's event due to an ankle injury.
Should Nadal prevail this week in Mason, as he did in 2013 and should Medvedev not make the quarterfinals, Nadal could vault to the top spot of the Pepperstone ATP rankings for the first time since Jan. 2020.
Rafael Nadal:Hopeful he'll play in his 1st Western & Southern Open in 5 years
Medvedev will be looking to rebound from a disappointing loss to Nick Kyrgios last week in the second round in Montreal. As the bracket plays out, the two tall talents could be in a quarterfinal match that shouldn't be missed. The Wimbledon finalist knocked off Medvedev last Wednesday in the National Bank Open 6-7, 6-4, 6-2. Kyrgios is also known for his on-court theatrics which cost him $113,000 in 2019's local tourney.
Usually, Kyrgios is at the center of controversy, but after the loss in Montreal, Medvedev made headlines when a fan called him a "loser" after the defeat. The Russian confronted the fan and talked about the encounter Sunday. Kyrgios also voiced his support for Medvedev via Twitter.
"If somebody's going to mock me I'm going to respond," Medvedev said. "I went to the guy and said, 'What's your problem? Why do you say these things?' He barely spoke English. I asked him why he said this and said he shouldn't do it. There were people around saying he should apologize."
Medvedev said it was a father and son who made the remarks.
"The more famous you become, the higher you go up the rankings, the more it can happen," he said of the negative comments. "It's in every sport. Every sport that has social media, it's a little bit out of control. That's what social media is. I'm not going to let people shout bad things to me and just continue walking."
First things first, Medvedev has two matches to win and Kyrgios three to get to a potential rematch.
"You can lose to anybody," Medvedev said. "Every match you play should be 100%. Talking about Nick, I like to play top matches. The disadvantage (last week) was that he had one match in his pocket. When I saw it on TV, I didn't feel he was playing very good, but against me, he was playing much better."
The Russian righty feels better about his chances should he face Kyrgios again and acknowledges it will be interesting. Medvedev has won 14 singles titles including the 2021 U.S. Open and 2020 ATP Finals. His first-round match will be against Botic van de Zandschulp (Netherlands) who defeated Maxime Cressy (U.S.) Sunday.
"I feel confident for Cincinnati and the U.S. Open itself," Medvedev said. "I for sure want to win as many matches here to grow this confidence. We'll take it match-by-match. I love this atmosphere."
Tall Tales
Medvedev is 6-feet-6 inches and Kyrgios is 6-foot-4. Kyrgios has serves timed at 143 miles per hour, with Medvedev registering 140. However, there is more "tower power" on the tour. John Isner is also playing and stands 6-feet-10 inches. The former Georgia Bulldog has also had a serve clocked at 157.2 miles per hour. He also played the longest match ever at Wimbledon in 2010 defeating Nicholas Mahut in five sets, 183 games over three days.
Also competing this week is 6-foot-6-inch Marin Cilic (Croatia) who can knock a Dunlop tennis ball 146 miles per hour. The tallest players on tour are Ivo Karlovic and Reilly Opelka, both 6-foot-11-inches. Karlovic has a top serve speed of 156 miles per hour with Opelka just shy of 145. So, there is a correlation in height and heat.
Novak Djokovic
Medvedev defeated Serbia's Noval Djokovic for last year's U.S. Open title but the world's No. 6-ranked player is not at the Western & Southern Open due to travel restrictions and is not expected to be in New York later this month. Djokovic has not been vaccinated against Covid-19 and currently is not allowed to travel to the U.S. or Canada.
"I can't do anything, it's the government who sets the rules," Medvedev said of his position on Djokovic. "If I were to be the decision-maker I would want Novak to play. I like when the tournament has the best players in the world. I would love to see him in New York. But, if the government rules he can't be there, everybody will try to do their best and win the U.S. Open."
