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Cervara: Ending an eight‑year partnership with Medvedev was necessary to change the energy
Cervara says split with Medvedev was to change ‘energy’ after poor results and rising risks. Cevara.
Gilles Cervara has said the decision to end his eight‑year working relationship with Daniil Medvedev was taken because continuing in the same circumstances posed a risk to both parties.
The split was announced on social media days after Medvedev was upset by Benjamin Bonzi in a five‑set first‑round match at the US Open. The duo had worked together since the summer of 2017, a period that produced a world No 1 ranking, a Grand Slam title, six Masters 1000 trophies and a Nitto ATP Finals crown.
“Results are the gauge of professional success, and even the measure of the player‑coach relationship in tennis,” began Cevara, in an exclusive interview with Tennis Majors.
“They hadn’t been satisfactory for some time. The question is why, and I’ve been thinking about it for a long time.
“After his first‑round loss at Wimbledon this year (to Benjamin Bonzi), I became certain that if results didn’t rebound during the summer, something needed to change.
“That ‘something’ was the energy around Daniil. So we needed to change the people involved.
“The ‘people’ concretely meant either me, or the fitness trainer Éric Hernandez, or both (Éric Hernandez also announced that the Medvedev project was ending for him). I kept thinking about it.
“I talked to Daniil after the US Open. He himself raised the idea: ‘After eight years, maybe it’s time for something different.’
“I said to him: ’Listen, that’s exactly what needs to happen in my opinion, because I don’t think I can continue to make you perform in the energy state we’re in right now. You need something new, something different, to transform.’”
Cervara traced the decline in results partly to the aftermath of the 2024 Australian Open final defeat to Jannik Sinner, when Medvedev surrendered from a two‑set lead. Since the 2023 Rome Masters the player has not won a title and has spent time outside the world’s top 10, currently listed at No 13 and due to drop to 17. This season he has recorded one Grand Slam match win, at the Australian Open.
“I think I thought of it before him,” he added. “I talked about it with his agent in Cincinnati. I was ready. In a frank assessment of the situation, I didn’t want to put Daniil in a corner—or myself.
“If I had asked him, ‘Do you think you can carry on like this?’ and he’d said ‘yes,’ that would have been a risk—a huge risk.
“We would only have had three months to validate that choice. You can keep working well while waiting for better results, of course.
“But starting a new season like that puts a sword of Damocles over your head—you have zero room for error.”
Cervara also reflected on team changes earlier in 2024, when former world No 6 Gilles Simon joined as an additional coach in February while Cervara planned to travel less. He described the situation as more complex than the results alone and said attempts to rebuild after Australia had not restored the previous structure. Medvedev is scheduled to return to the tour at the ATP 250 event in Hangzhou.
ATP
Sinner’s serve numbers reveal a mixed picture despite his dominance
Sinner’s serve stats show elite power, but his first-serve percentage still leaves room for growth.
Jannik Sinner’s serve has long been viewed as a major part of his rise to the top of the men’s game, yet the numbers from the past year tell a more complicated story.
The world No 1 adjusted his service motion shortly before he began establishing himself as a leading force on the ATP Tour, and that weapon stood out again when he defended his Wimbledon title earlier this month.
After losing the US Open final to Carlos Alcaraz last September, Sinner made it clear that he wanted more variety and consistency on serve. His own words at the time showed how deliberate that change was:
“I can say that I’m gonna become a better tennis player and I’m gonna change a couple of things on the serve, just small things, but, they can make big differences and then we see how it goes,” said Sinner. after that defeat against Alcaraz in New York.
“I’m looking forward to play these matches again, something new is now that I’m not No 1 anymore. Now you chase, it’s different.
“Maybe I will lose some matches from now on, but I will try to do some changes, trying to be a bit more unpredictable as a player and because I think that’s what I have to do, trying to become a better tennis player.”
Even with his strong recent run, the ATP Tour figures for the last 12 months show that there is still work to be done in one area. Sinner ranks 35th in first serve percentage at 63.8%, well behind Alexander Zverev, who leads the list at 72.5%.
The Italian, however, is far more dominant once the first serve lands. He leads the tour in service points won at 80.9%, just ahead of Reilly Opelka on 80.8% and Taylor Fritz on 79.7%.
He also tops service games won at 92.9%, underlining how difficult he is to break. Opelka follows on 90.6%, with Ben Shelton third at 90.4% and Alcaraz at 89.9%.
One remaining area is ace production. Sinner is 27th in that category with an average of 8.2 per match, while Opelka leads with 18.5, followed by Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on 15.1 and Fritz on 14.1.
ATP
Sinner climbs to No 4 on all-time prize money list after Wimbledon defence
Sinner’s Wimbledon defence lifts him to No 4 on the all-time prize money list in 2026.
Jannik Sinner’s successful Wimbledon title defence brought more than another major trophy. It also lifted the Italian to No 4 on the all-time career prize money list.
Before Wimbledon 2026, Sinner sat at No 6, with Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer occupying the top three spots and Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz positioned above him. Zverev had recently passed both Alcaraz and Sinner after his French Open run, but the order shifted again once Sinner collected $4,830,756 (£3,600,000) for his latest Wimbledon triumph.
That result leaves Sinner close to becoming only the fourth player to move beyond $70m in career prize money. He has already earned $11,620,364 in 2026 and is on track to break the $20m barrier for the first time in a season.
His rise has been rapid. Last year, he took in $19,120,641, a total that included a record $5,071,000 for winning the ATP Finals undefeated. He finished second on the 2025 earnings list behind Alcaraz, who made $21,354,778, after leading the way in 2024 with $19,735,703.
At the end of the 2024 season, Sinner stood on $37,238,688. Since the start of the 2025 campaign, he has added another $32,347,873. From just $36 in prize money in his first professional year, he now sits on $69,586,561.
Zverev is fifth with $68,392,312, while Alcaraz is on $64,997,598 after not adding to his tally since April because of injury. Andy Murray has fallen to No 7 on $64,687,542, with Daniil Medvedev eighth on $52,192,594. Djokovic, Sinner, Zverev, Alcaraz and Medvedev are the only active players to have passed $40m.
Djokovic remains far ahead in first place with $194,656,816, including $3,000,801 earned in 2026. Nadal is second on $134,946,100 and Federer third on $130,594,339.
ATP French Open Grand Slam
Auger-Aliassime Reaches Career-High No. 4 After Breakthrough at Roland Garros
Auger-Aliassime rises to No. 4 after best Roland Garros run, tying second-highest Canadian rank. Now
Felix Auger-Aliassime moved to a career-high No. 4 in the ATP rankings following his deepest run at Roland Garros, where the 25-year-old reached the quarterfinals for the first time before losing to eventual finalist Flavio Cobolli. The result completed a personal Grand Slam milestone: having previously reached the quarterfinals or better at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, he became the first Canadian man to reach the quarterfinals or better at all four majors in his career.
The rise from No. 6 to No. 4 surpasses his prior best of No. 5 and places him tied for the second-highest-ranked Canadian in ATP or WTA rankings history. The only other Canadians to reach the top four are Milos Raonic and Bianca Andreescu. Raonic went as high as No. 3 in 2016, following his run to the Wimbledon final that year, and Andreescu peaked at No. 4 in 2019 after winning the US Open.
Canadian tennis has seen seven players reach the top 10 in either ATP or WTA history, with official rankings available since 1973 for the ATP and 1975 for the WTA.
Auger-Aliassime still has ground to cover to move higher in the standings. He is 2,865 points behind the current world No. 3, Alexander Zverev, with the rankings showing Zverev at 7,305 points and Auger-Aliassime at 4,440.
The Canadian will shift his focus to grass. He begins his grass-court season this week at the ATP 250 event in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, entering as the No. 1 seed. After a first-round bye he will open against either Hubert Hurkacz or Marton Fucsovics.
The new ranking reflects a season of important progress for Auger-Aliassime and cements his place among the highest-ranked Canadians in modern tennis history.
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