Medvedev was talking about pickleball a week ago, and has not dropped a set in three rounds since
Daniil Medvedev came to New York having won one match since Wimbledon and joking about taking up pickleball, and he has yet to lose a set. The 2021 champion beat Arthur Rinderknech 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, winning 85% of the points behind his first serve while averaging seven miles an hour less on it than his opponent.
Daniil Medvedev, US Open 2026 | © PsNewz
Daniil Medvedev arrived at this US Open with one win since Wimbledon and a half-serious plan to take up another sport. He has now played three matches, won nine sets and lost none of them, beating Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Friday evening to reach the fourth round.
He plays the winner between Monégasque No. 22 seed Valentin Vacherot and American No. 11 seed Frances Tiafoe.
It is the seventh time in eight years that the 2021 champion has reached the second week here, and his 35th win of the season.
The serving numbers explain the identical scorelines. Medvedev won 85% of the points behind his first serve and 64% behind his second, hit 10 aces and 23 winners, and took 58 points on his own serve to Rinderknech’s 51. The difference was on the other side of the net: Medvedev won 30 return points, Rinderknech 19.
A year of difference for Rinderknech
The Frenchman leaves one round earlier than in 2025, when he reached the fourth round here and lost to Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4. His section of the draw had looked navigable, and he had done the difficult part, coming through four sets against Japan’s Sho Shimabukuro, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-2, and beating Spaniard Jaume Munar 7-6 (4), 6-2, 7-5.
Then he drew a former champion who has spent the fortnight quietly rebuilding.
Medvedev had beaten American wild card Sebastian Gorzny 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 and French qualifier Hugo Gaston 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in the first two rounds. Before the tournament he had lost four of five matches, gone out in the first round at Winston-Salem to a wild card, and said he had been contemplating a switch to pickleball. “Unfortunately tennis takes too much energy and time,” he said then. “Otherwise I would do something else.”
Nine sets, none surrendered. The pickleball can wait.
US Open 2026, men’s singles, third round
A. Zverev [1] vs A. Tabilo [25] – not played
L. Darderi [21] vs D. Sweeny (W) – not played
M. Zheng (W) vs A. Gea (L) – not played
Z. Bergs [31] vs B. Van de Zandschulp – not played
K. Khachanov vs B. Bonzi – not played
J. Mensik [17] vs L. Tien [14] – not played
T. Fritz [9] vs F. Cerundolo [24] – not played
A. Blockx [28] vs F. Cobolli [5] – not played
D. Medvedev [7] d. A. Rinderknech [26]: 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
V. Vacherot [22] vs F. Tiafoe [11] – not played
A. Michelsen vs D. Merida – not played
T. Etcheverry [27] vs M. Navone – not played
B. Shelton [8] vs D. Shapovalov – not played
J. Lehecka [18] vs S. Tsitsipas – not played
T. Paul [20] d. A. Bublik [15]: 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-3
C. Alcaraz [2] d. Y. Wu: 6-3, 6-4, 6-1
