Why Did the No. 4 Ranked Tennis Player Daniil Medvedev Retire at the Madrid Open?

If you’re only a casual tennis fan, you may think one of the best players in the sport will be putting down his racket forever. You may want to familiarize yourself with the sport if you're a fan of 28-year-old Daniil Medvedev.

During a match on May 2, 2024 against Jiri Lehecka in the quarter-final of the Mutua Madrid Open, Daniil Medvedev saw his doctor twice before deciding to retire from the match.

According to the AP, "Daniil Medvedev retired from his quarterfinal match after losing the first set 6-4, sending the 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka into a semifinal against 35th-ranked Felix Auger-Aliassime. No. 4-ranked Medvedev needed treatment on his upper right leg while leading 3-2, complaining about having trouble moving to his right. He also needed treatment at 4-3, and after Lehecka broke serve in the ninth game to win the set, Medvedev decided not to continue."

In the post-match press conference, Medvedev explained why he pulled himself from the game: "I felt on, it was a return when he served and volleyed and I don't know if I felt it on the return or on the drop shot, but when I ran, I wanted to run faster and faster during the movement, and suddenly felt my hip kind of blocked. And I couldn't sprint like when you strain a muscle probably or have a spasm, which is very tough to know which of the two."

The Russian continued, "Working with the physio, and then asked him if I could make it worse. He said if it's a tear, then yes. If it's a spasm, no. I tried to go to play, and my mind was not letting me to, like, go full, so at the end of the set, I was, like, if I want to continue, I just try to sprint to the net. If I don't feel anything, I try to go a little bit more full and see how it goes, and when I sprinted I felt pain, so I was, like, no, no need to continue."

Later in the press conference the No. 4 ranked player was asked about his potential return at the Italian Open, which begins May 6, 2024. He answered, "Right now, definitely yes but I need to see the images, speak to my team, especially it would be good to come back there after winning last year."

According to the Express, “Medvedev is the defending champion at the upcoming Masters 1000 event in Rome, which begins next Wednesday. He likely wouldn't need to play his opening match until the Friday or Saturday as one of his top seeds but his participation is now in doubt.”

The next time you read ‘retire’ in relation to tennis, make sure to read the entire story. According to the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, to retire from a tennis match simply means, “a player's withdrawal during a match, usually due to injury, causing the player to forfeit their place in the tournament.”