Daniil Medvedev splits with Gilles Cervara as eight year partnership comes to an end

Daniil Medvedev has split from his long-time coach Gilles Cervara as their eight year partnership has come to an end. This after Medvedev's extraordinary first round meltdown at the US Open.

Medvedev who has not been in good form for some time faced off against Benjamin Bonzi for a second Grand Slam in a row and it was once again a first round exit for the Russian. But he was fined more than £30,000 for his US Open meltdown.

He was facing match point and a straight sets loss when a photographer entered the court just as Bonzi misfired his first serve. The official then allowed Bonzi another first serve due to this and Medvedev didn't take too kindly to it shouting at the umpire Greg Allensworth. "Are you a man? Why are you shaking? He wants to go home guys, he doesn't like to be here. He gets paid by the match, not by the hour."

Medvedev saved the match point and won the third and fourth sets but went on to lose the fifth repeatedly smashing his racquet on the court. Now he has dispensed with Cervara as it seems like he needs fresh impetus. The former World No.1 is set to drop out of the top 15 in the world. He broke more racquets than win games at the Australian Open losing to Learner Tien.

Clay is never his favourite but Medvedev resorted to yelling over winning as he saw a win slip away 7-5 6-3 4-6 1-6 7-5. He then lost again to Bonzi for the first time in four sets. He had reached the final of Halle in the weeks prior only losing to a fired up Alexander Bublik but in the end, the big tournament saw him lose fairly comfortably in the end.

The Cervara change was announced by his now ex-coach who as expected heaped praise on his charge. Their best success came in 2019 when he won Coach of the Year and guided him to 59 match wins, 46 hard court wins and nine finals in 2019. As well as a career high ranking of World No.4.

But he has seemingly been after a change for a while with Gilles Simon coming on board for a time earlier in the year and Medvedev seemingly searching for answers while also keeping the main coach in his team the same. But he has now plumped for a wide spread change as we head towards the Asian hard court swing and the second half of the 2025 season.

It will be intriguing to see where Medvedev goes from here as he needs a new coach and seemingly a new mindset to approach the second half of the season.

"Daniil, Our fantastic eight-season adventure together comes to an end.Like a symbolic wink of life, it’s after this US Open tournament that we end our collaboration," he wrote on Instagram.

"I am grateful and happy for all the great things and wonderful experiences we were able to experience together on the court during these eight years. It will remain etched in my memory forever.I thank you for placing your trust in me. I gave EVERYTHING, every second, for our shared goals.I loved training you, coaching you, supporting you (even when it was difficult), and finding solutions with you and the team to help you perform.I will keep in mind your unconventional magic as a player, which is your strength. It will return, I’m sure.I wish you all the success you aspire to as a player in the future. And a happy life as a man.The road continues,work and performance call to each of us...and I wish us both success.