Rome: Müller without regrets, Medvedev without resilience

Alexandre Müller did not succeed in worried Nicolas Jarry for more than one set on Tuesday, but he had no regrets after his elimination in the round of 16 of the Masters 1000 in Rome which lost its outgoing champion Daniil Medvedev unable to “adapt to the conditions”.

The last Frenchman in contention at the Foro Italico, Müller fell in the round of 16 against the Chilean Nicolas Jarry (24th) who brought a brutal end (7-5, 6-3) to the best week of his career on the ATP circuit. .

“I have no regrets, I tried to do it +ch..r+ as much as possible, but he was better than me (… ) I gave everything, but in terms of tennis, it's very complicated to play against these players, we can't put a lot of things in place”, he analyzed.

Frenchman Alexandre Muller during his round of 16 of the Masters 1000 in Rome against Chilean Nicolas Jarry on May 14, 2024 © AFP – Isabella BONOTTO

While playing his sixth match in ten days, including the two in qualifications, the native of Ile-de-France who took up tennis at six years old after a move near Aix-en- Provence, recognized that “the energy, the nervous impulse had gone little by little”.

“I will try to retain the positive. To make an 8th (final) in Masters 1000, if ten days ago someone had told me that, I would have signed straight away”, recalled Müller who suffers from Crohn's disease.

– Three players in the top 50 –

Although he had not won until – there in his career only two matches in Masters 1000, Müller beat to reach the round of 16 three players from the world top 50, the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (50th), his compatriot Arthur Fils (34th) and the Russian Andrey Rublev (6th ).

As a result, he will return to the world top 100 (89th) and get closer to his best ranking (71st) reached after his final of the Marrakech tournament in 2023 .

Already assured of a wild card for Roland-Garros, this new ranking offers him direct entry into the main draw at Wimbledon and the possibility of aiming for 4th and last ticket for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Winner in 2023 of the Roman tournament, his first and still only title on clay, Medvedev has fallen back on his earthly faults.

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The Russian Daniil Medvedev during his round of 16 of the Masters 1000 in Rome against the American Tommy Paul on May 14, 2024 © AFP – Isabella BONOTTO

Already in difficulty the day before by the Serbian qualifier Hamad Medjedovic 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 7-5, he did not weigh heavily against the American Tommy Paul, winner in two sets 6- 1, 6-4.

“I didn't enter the match mentally, at least in the first set”, admitted the world No.4.

– Tabilo on his cloud –

“What is hard for me on clay is that each “court of each tournament is different while on hard, there are not all its disparities”, he tried to explain.

Medvedev does not is not the only member of the top 10 to have packed his bags: Grigor Dimitrov (10th) lost in three sets to Taylor Fritz (13th).

Of the eight members of the top 10 who came to Rome, there are only three left in the quarter-finals.

The Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas after his victory against the Australian Alex De Minaur in the round of 16 of the Masters 1000 in Rome on May 14, 2024 © AFP – Tiziana FABI

Two of them, however, made a strong impression on Tuesday, Alexander Zverev (5th) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (8th) who respectively outclassed Nuno Borges (6-2, 7-5) and Alex De Minaur ( 6-1, 6-2).

Two days after disgusting Novak Djokovic by inflicting one of his heaviest defeats in the Masters 1000, Alejandro Tabilo remained on cloud nine.

The Chilean, 32nd in the world, got the better of the Russian Karen Khachanov (18th) 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (12/10) and will face in the quarterfinals final the Chinese Zhizhen Zang (56th).

With big names lacking confidence (Djokovic, Nadal) or uncertain (Alcaraz, Sinner) and a new generation without complexes, “Roland-Garros promises to be very open, in any case more open than usual,” predicted Medvedev.

“Maybe even I would have my chance,” smiled the Russian whose best result on Parisian clay remains a quarter-final in 2021.

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