Gilles Cervara 'Building a Team Around Daniil Medvedev Helped Him Succeed'
Tennis - Gilles Cervara, who has been working with Russian star Daniil Medvedev since 2014, says the young Russian was among the top juniors in the world but it took hard work, talent and luck to help him breakthrough on the professional circuit. In an interview on Ubitennis, Cervara commented, "At that time he was a junior who had achieved good results, he was among the top 10 in the world and the project we were building was interesting. We hoped it could improve, but then to break through it we need a mix of work, talent and even luck. All three components must go together. With Daniil, it was a process. We started working fully with him in 2017, and we built a team around him. We realized that we had to build a team to be able to help 100% and fix every little detail. At that point, Daniil also began to understand that all the little things that we were starting to set up worked, like for example the attention to food. And to see that the results were positive helped to establish a virtuous circle."
Speaking about his goals for the Russian in 2019, Cervara adds, "First of all, at the beginning of the year we agree on what are the goals for the season, but then there is no analytical schedule, with the minimum results to be reached tournament by tournament. And then we need to understand what needs to be done to get there. Obviously achieving good results in important tournaments changes the perspective and affects the achievement of the objectives. The idea is to improve one game at a time and try to think about one match at a time. We try to stay in the present.
Cervara also adds that he does not use too much data during his training and rather focuses on coaching itself. "Using data in such a structured way is not part of my way of working. We would need a dedicated team on these aspects. What I sometimes do is collect data and statistics to prepare for the matches, but it is not a systematic modus operandi, it depends on the occasions. It also depends on what I want to learn more about and what I feel at that moment. I leave the door open also to this option, but for the time being, I am unable for a time to do it with continuity."
The 23-year-old Medvedev reached the final of the recently concluded Barcelona Open where he lost to Dominic Thiem and is currently ranked a career-best No. 14 in the world.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2VFUSGb
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