Daniil Medvedev has enjoyed a resurgent 2026 season and has moved closer to the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
According to Tennis Head, Medvedev had a disappointing 2025 season by his standards, having dropped to as low as world number 18 after winning just one Grand Slam match all year.
While Medvedev has been unable to reach any major quarter-final this year, he has still won three ATP titles and reached the final of Indian Wells, enabling him to break back into the top 10.
Medvedev's resurgence has come in a year where both Alcaraz and Sinner have struggled with injury, and he has now revealed if he thinks he can overtake either or both of them in the ATP rankings.
Daniil Medvedev claims Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are still the best two players
Medvedev is competing at the Almaty Open this week, where he is the defending champion, and is back in the quarter-finals after beating Sho Shimabukoro 6-2, 6-1.
After this win, Medvedev spoke in his post-match press conference, where the world number five was asked if he thinks he can overtake Alcaraz and Sinner.
Medvedev was clear in his response, as he explained his mindset in facing the likes of Alcaraz and Sinner, who he claimed are still the best two players in the world when fit.
"Probably not, they're much stronger than the rest of the field for the whole season if they're not injured of course, which is part of the game," said Medvedev.
"But I always said, you know probably you play a lot of matches against Alcaraz and Sinner, and you're going to lose more than you win. And that's normal, because they're like in a good way, freaks. They know how to do stuff that other people don't, but if you can win two out of 10, three out of 10, and then maybe four out of 10 or maybe five out of 10, you try. Every time you go out there, you try.”
"But again, when they're healthy, they have proven it throughout the whole year that they are number one and number two in the world, in whichever order. It's part of the game also to be healthy and this year that was not the case."
Medvedev trails in his head-to-head against Alcaraz and Sinner, despite having multiple wins over both players. However, Medvedev does have the most recent win against Alcaraz, which he achieved at Indian Wells earlier this year.
