“I’m done,” Daniil Medvedev said multiple times to his coaching team during a gruelling and dramatic contest at the 2025 Shanghai Masters.
Late in the second set of his last 16 match with Learner Tien at the prestigious Chinese event, Medvedev was ready to retire as cramping took hold. At one stage, Medvedev appeared to start walking to the net to shake hands, but he decided to keep playing.
Medvedev‘s refusal to quit gave him the opportunity to claim a remarkable 7-6(6), 6-7(1), 6-4 victory against the 19-year-old American rising star.
The context of Medvedev’s history with Tien, who he held a 0-2 record against before this match, makes the win even more impressive.
The Russian lost a marathon Australian Open second round battle to Tien in January in a fifth set tiebreak after failing to serve it out.
More significantly, there were uncanny parallels between this Shanghai match and the pair’s meeting at the China Open just over a week ago.
In the Beijing semi-finals, Medvedev was forced to retire when trailing Tien 0-4 in the third set due to cramping. In a similarly physical battle, Medvedev had lost the second set 5-7 after serving for the match at 5-4. His body then broke down early in the decider.
History looked set to repeat itself for Medvedev in Shanghai, where seven players have pulled out mid-match due to the brutal heat and humidity at this year’s tournament.
Medvedev asked his team to give him pickle juice — which is used to combat cramping — early in the second set. He managed to build a 3-0 lead and had a break point for 4-0, but his physical condition worsened as the set progressed.
The 29-year-old won only one point in the second set tiebreak as the cramps visibly affected his movement.
Medvedev had won a pulsating 75-minute opening set on a tiebreak, and his chances looked slim heading into the decider against Tien, who is renowned for his physicality and consistency.
His first serve took over in the third set, though, and he incredibly prevailed in a two-hour-and-52-minute epic.
An absolute rollercoaster
Daniil Medvedev somehow overcomes Learner Tien in an epic battle lasting 2 hours and 52 minutes #RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/41AQEkazdT
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 8, 2025
Although he expressed his frustration at the situation several times, Medvedev did not let it boil over and maintained the composure and grit he needed to survive significant adversity.
This is notable after some of Medvedev’s on-court meltdowns this season — particularly the one in his opening round US Open loss less than two months ago.
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Medvedev, a former world No 1 who won the US Open in 2021, is currently ranked 18th having endured a largely torrid 2025 campaign by his lofty standards.
The 20-time ATP Tour titlist has reached only four semi-finals in his 20 previous events this year, and staggeringly, he won just one match across the four Grand Slam events.
Clinching a win that had looked near impossible against an opponent who had been a nemesis feels hugely important for Medvedev.
The Russian hired Thomas Johansson and Rohan Goetzke as his new coaches ahead of the Asian swing, having parted ways with long-time coach Gilles Cervara after the US Open.
It has been a positive start for the new-look team; Medvedev is now 7-2 since Johannsson and Goetzke arrived having been 23-18 for the season beforehand.
Medvedev applauded Tien as his opponent left the court and he lauded the current world No 36 in an on-court interview with Tennis TV.
“I mean, the toughest part is that we played two times and in my opinion, he’s an unbelievable player, because he doesn’t have a great serve and serve is so important in tennis,” he said.
“And without the serve, he’s 19, he’s 30 in the world and only going up. And in my opinion, he’s such a good tennis player. He feels the game so well.
“There are so many guys right now — it’s where tennis is going — that just hit strong, and just every ball they have, they hit full power. They have amazing serves, so that makes them stay in the tennis match.
“He (Tien) doesn’t have it and he manages to play so good without it. And so for me to beat him, I thought I was going to lose, I was cramping again… and I’m just super happy to manage to do it.”
Asked how much it could help him to come through a match like this, though, Medvedev played down the value of this win alone and pointed to the toll it took on him.
“I mean, I will be honest, I don’t think this helps. I’m dead. Luckily I don’t play tomorrow, so I have one day to recover and I’m probably gonna be fine,” he said.
He was bullish, however, about the tennis he has played in Asia as a whole — and he made a telling comment that he will “be back” if he continues to perform at this level.
“It’s more the general Asian swing, I was playing good,” Medvedev added. “The two matches I lost, I was serving for the match. I was playing great level and I’m happy with where I’m going. And if I continue like this, I can, one moment, be back (smiles).”
After his victory, Medvedev — a Shanghai champion in 2019 — wrote on the camera lens: “I don’t want to leave the best city in the world yet.”
It is hard to believe that the Russian is chasing his first title since May 2023, when he won the Italian Open. He will next face world No 7 Alex de Minaur in the quarter-finals, which promises to be another tough physical challenge.
In the absence of Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and a host of other stars, though, this is a good opportunity for the former world No 1 to announce he really is back.
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