In the first round, Medvedev beat Stan Wawrinka, but the 2023 Rotterdam Open champion was unable to back it up against Bellucci.

The world number seven made some strange shot selections against the 23-year-old, that included Medvedev hitting a terrible drop shot in the second set.

This means that he has lost in the second round of both his tournaments so far this year, after Learner Tien beat Medvedev at the Australian Open in a match that finished just before 3am.

Since that defeat, Medvedev has parted ways with his coach and questions about the Russian’s future in the sport are starting to arise.

Daniil Medvedev reveals what could make him retire from tennis

Medvedev has not won a title since the 2023 Italian Open, and his most recent final came at Indian Wells last year where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets.

The 28-year-old is no longer a top five ranked player, and was asked about whether he is considering retirement when speaking to press in Rotterdam.

While Medvedev played down any possibility of that for the time being, he did suggest that a significant ranking drop could change his mindset.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen soon,” said Medvedev. “I like tennis, I’m still winning a lot of money, so I’m going to continue playing until I can’t do it. If I drop out of top 100, then I don’t know. But this is probably not going to happen.

“I’m pretty sure I can come back strong enough. The question is, when? Tomorrow? Next month? In 12 months? This, I don’t know.”

Medvedev has not been outside the top 100 since 2016, and has been ranked as high as world number one.

Daniil Medvedev explains what went wrong in Rotterdam

Medvedev has admitted having confidence issues in recent weeks, and was hoping to get some of that back following the Australian Open.

However, that is unlikely to have happened at the Rotterdam Open after he hit eight double faults against Bellucci.

Despite this, when explaining his side of the match, Medvedev appeared to be taking some positives from his nearly three hours on court.

“Not playing my best tennis at the moment,” said Medvedev. “I had my chances, I should have played better, more consistently, hit some better shots, but I didn’t manage to do it, and he took his chance, played pretty well overall.

“The story of the match is that, in my opinion, I played very badly, and I almost won it. So, in one way, it’s a good sign. In another way, I don’t want to play like that.”

The 2021 US Open champion is not looking to take this recent dip in form lying down, with Medvedev entered into three more tournaments in February.

Related Topics