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Medvedev has won 18 of his 19 titles, including
the 2021 U.S. Open, on hardcourts, the only exception coming at
the Mallorca Open when he triumphed on grass the same year.
He has been in red-hot form this season having triumphed in
Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai and Miami but the 27-year-old knows clay
presents a different challenge for his game.
"I definitely have to change my game because my strokes are too
flat and clay doesn't let the ball go through the court as
much," Medvedev, who plays Lorenzo Sonego or Ugo Humbert first
in the ATP 1000 tournament, said.
"My opponents can use those (shots against me).
"At the same time, you can't change what you do in nine months
or a year drastically, so I have to find a good balance where I
still play my game, with a little change, with some shots in the
right moment."
Despite not being the biggest fan of clay, Medvedev reached the
Monte Carlo semi-finals and Barcelona final in 2019 and the
Russian knows winning a title on the surface would boost his
confidence before the French Open.
He would much rather be playing on hardcourts though.
"I wish we could continue on hard, but I understand that there
are different surfaces on Tour and that is good because some
people are better on clay, some on hard, some on grass,"
Medvedev said.
"It's good to have different surfaces, I think that's good for
the sport."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter
Rutherford)
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