Andrei Medvedev ( uk, Андрій Медведєв, Andriy Medvedyev; born 31 August 1974) is a Ukrainian former professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

player. Medvedev reached the final of the

1999 French Open The 1999 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament was held from 24 May until 6 June. It was the 103rd staging of the French Open, and the second Gr ...

, the French Open semifinals in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, and won four Masters titles during his career, achieving a career-high ranking of world No. 4 in May 1994.

Career

In 1991, Medvedev won the junior singles title at the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and v ...

. As a 17 year old the following year, Medvedev won his first two ATP-tour titles in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

and Stuttgart (where he beat world no. 2

Stefan Edberg Stefan Bengt Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. A major proponent of the serve-and-volley style of tennis, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles between 19 ...

, and finished the season ranked within the world's top 25. His most successful tournament was the Hamburg Masters (formerly the German Open), which he won three times (1994, 1995 and 1997). He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 4. In the late 1990s, Medvedev's form and results began to flounder until he unexpectedly reached the final of the

where — ranked 100 — he defeated

Dinu Pescariu Dinu Mihail Pescariu (born 12 April 1974) is a former tennis player from Romania, who turned professional in 1991. The right-hander represented his native country at two Summer Olympics: in Barcelona (1992) and in Atlanta (1996). He reached h ...

Pete Sampras Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...

Byron Black Byron Hamish Black (born 6 October 1969) is a former touring professional tennis and Davis Cup player for Zimbabwe. Personal life He is the son of Donald Black and Velia Black and brother to Wayne Black and Cara, who were also professional t ...

, Arnaud Di Pasquale,

Gustavo Kuerten Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the French Open singles title three times (1997, 2000, and 2001), and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. During his career he wo ...

and

Fernando Meligeni Fernando Ariel Meligeni (born April 12, 1971), nicknamed ''Fininho'' (diminutive form in Portuguese for ''thin''), is a Brazilian former professional tennis player. He won 3 singles titles and reached the semi-finals of both the 1999 French Ope ...

en route. Medvedev dominated the first two sets of the final against

Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors. Agassi is the second of five men to ac ...

before Agassi mounted a come-from-behind victory, which allowed him to complete a career Grand Slam. Afterwards, Medvedev did not score further notable results, and retired from the tour in 2001. One main rival of Medvedev's was

Sergi Bruguera Sergi Bruguera i Torner (; born 16 January 1971) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. He won consecutive men's singles titles at the French Open in 1993 and 1994, a silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in men's singles and reache ...

. While their head-to-head record ended deadlocked at 5–5, Bruguera was able to win their two most important matches — the semi-finals and quarter-finals of the

and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

French Opens respectively, with Bruguera winning both matches in straight sets. In the French Open tournament, Medvedev lost six times to the eventual champion (1992–95, 1997 and 1999).

Personal life

His sister, Natalia Medvedeva, formerly a top 25 player on the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tou ...

, partnered with Andrei to represent Ukraine at the seventh

Hopman Cup The Hopman Cup is an international eight-team indoor hardcourt tennis tournament that played mixed-gender teams on a country-by-country basis.It was held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, before being replaced on the calen ...

in 1995, finishing as runners-up to Germany's

Boris Becker Boris Franz Becker (, ; born 22 November 1967) is a German former world No. 1 tennis player. Becker was successful from the start of his career, winning the Wimbledon Championships at the age of 17. He ultimately won six Grand Slam singles tit ...

and Anke Huber (Medvedev's girlfriend back then) in the final.Past Results – Hopman Cup VII
Hopmancup.com (4 January 2014). Retrieved on 22 February 2014. Andrei Medvedev is not related to another ATP tennis pro,

Daniil Medvedev Daniil Sergeyevich Medvedev (russian: Даниил Сергеевич Медведев; born 11 February 1996) is a Russian professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 7 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), and was ...

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Masters Series finals

Singles: 5 (4 titles, 1 runner-up)

Career finals

Singles: 18 (11 titles, 7 runners-up)

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Team: 1 (1 runner-up)

Singles performance timeline

Top 10 wins

Main achievements

*1991 Won junior

, beating

Thomas Enqvist Thomas Karl Johan Enqvist (born 13 March 1974) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He reached the final of the 1999 Australian Open and won a total of 19 singles titles, including three Masters titles. He has a career high ATP world ...

in the final *1992 Won the title in Stuttgart (Outdoor) with the strongest draw in the history of the event *1993 Semifinalist at the French Open and Masters in Frankfurt *1994 Won the titles in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino i ...

and

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

(Super 9 events) *1995 Won the title in Hamburg *1997 Won the title in Hamburg title for the third time in four years *1999 Reached the final of the French Open

References

External links

* * *
Official website of Andrei Medvedev
{{DEFAULTSORT:Medvedev, Andrei French Open junior champions Sportspeople from Kyiv People from Monte Carlo Soviet male tennis players Ukrainian expatriates in Monaco Ukrainian male tennis players 1974 births Hopman Cup competitors Living people Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles