How Djokovic helped Norrie upset Medvedev at Roland-Garros
The Brit says match-up with Medvedev is one of his worst on Tour
Cam Norrie credited an unlikely source for his opening-round victory over Daniil Medvedev at Roland-Garros 2025 on Tuesday: Novak Djokovic.
Speaking to the media after his five-set, come-from-behind win against the 11th seed, Norrie explained that his recent match against Djokovic prepared him perfectly for this week’s battle.
“I think it was really helpful to play Novak last week in the semis,” said the Brit, referring to his three-set loss to Djokovic at the Geneva Open on Friday.
“I felt it was just a continuation of that match today. It was like playing the fourth set against Novak in the first set against Daniil. I really felt prepared. I had the matches, like I said.
“It was maybe tougher today than it was with Novak in terms of the rallies. He would give me absolutely nothing.”
Norrie was made to work hard against Medvedev, breaking serve in the 10th game of the deciding set and winning the final three games of the match to claim his first victory over the Russian in five attempts.
“I think I have an absolutely terrible matchup against Daniil in terms of the way we play, the game style,” he explained.
“He’s so tough to play, for me anyway. He absolutely gives you nothing. There’s no easy way to win points against him. I lost to him two weeks ago. He completely chopped me in Rome.
“For me, outside of Alcaraz and Sinner, Novak, [Medvedev] would be probably the fourth toughest draw for me in terms of matchups and players.
“Extremely good win, especially my record with him. Yeah, what’s his ranking, 12 or 11 in the world? In a slam, best-of-five, beating him in five sets is impressive for me.”
The world No 81 has an excellent chance to make a deep run at Roland-Garros this year, with No 144 Federico Gomez in the second round and the winner of Jacob Fearnley and Ugo Humbert if he makes the third.
Navigate these two matches, and he may well be in for a repeat of last week’s match, with Djokovic a potential fourth-round opponent.
