1989 French Open doubles runner-up Mansour Bahrami believes Daniil Medvedev returning to the top-10 in 2026 is a safe bet.
After seeing his form and ranking plummet in 2024, Medvedev suffered another blow in March when he exited the top-10 for only the second time in five years. Following his US Open first-round exit, the Russian also found himself close to leaving the top-20 club after falling to No. 18 in the world.
However, since making some major changes and replacing long-time coach Gilles Cervara with Thomas Johansson, Medvedev has found a bit of spark as he won the ATP 250 tournament in Almaty and also made back-to-back semifinals in Beijing and Shanghai. As a result, the 2021 US Open champion improved five spots in the rankings and finished the year ranked at No. 13 in the world.
Bahrami: Medvedev has played better toward the end of 2025, he will surely return to the top-10
“Daniil has been a lot better at the end of the year. He’s been No. 1 in the world, he’s a great player, and he’s been there for the past 10 years. I think he’ll be back in the top 10 for sure, and I have no doubt about that," Bahrami said on Bolshe!
Medvedev was also a guest on the same podcast recently and revealed that he battled some serious self-doubts after losing to Benjamin Bonzi in the US Open first round.
"There was a moment of fear [in the American swing], thinking: 'Maybe I can't play like I used to.' I'm 29, and there are examples of tennis players… who couldn't play the same way anymore. But in Monaco, I trained at a level where, probably, no one except Sinner or Alcaraz would have beaten me. That's when I said: 'Ah, okay, I still know how," Medvedev said on Bolshe!
Medvedev picked up multiple early exits in the first couple of months of 2025 and that means he won't have many points to defend at the start of the 2026 season. It remains to be seen if the former world No. 1 can use it to his advantage and quickly rejoin the top-10 club.
