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Journalism of Courage
A headline once hailed Eric Hernandez, the trainer of Daniil Medvedev as someone who turned the Russian into a”non violent steamroller.” That was August of 2022 when Medvedev was on a roll. Many mornings later, Meddy, the insanely talented maverick, woke up and chose violence (breaking his racquet against Bonzi at the US Open).
However this last week, Medvedev announced he was parting ways with Hernandez, that felt like parting of R Daniil with Elijah. The duo had been inseparable since 2014.
Hernandez on his Insta recalled, “Dear Daniil, What a journey! I met you in 2014 and during these 11 years we have in common many wonderful experiences and moments in and off court….. Working with you has been true joy through both highs and lows. I tried to push you at your best, put all my skills….helping you make most of what you could achieve. ….I wish you all the success as a player but also in your family life as a father.”
This was after Medvedev announced that the two were going separate ways.
“Thank you Eric (red heart). Thanks for making me better, stronger every day (wink). You made me able to run more than 20 hours during one tournament and still have the chance to win it. Everyday you pushed me to limits and I will never forget our victories together”
Earlier Medvedev had also split with Giles Cervara his other physio and training staff. “Amazing 8-10 years together, 20 titles, world No 1, but most importantly a lot of fun moments and memories that will stay with us forever,” Medvedev wrote.
The mercurial Russian had a meltdown for the ages at the US Open, smashed his racquet, argued and created one right din, taking the American crowd along with him from booms to boos to bahs. He had started the tournament with an Insta post captioned ‘Mute. Play’. The video reel ended with the word Mute struck off. And he stayed true to the soundtrack.
One comment summed up his roiling summer: “Stay strong. We are all against you,” someone scribbled. But even as the US Open reaches its crescendo of the well behaved Alcarazs and Sinners in contention, and Djokovic showing how to keep going, never mind popularity meters, Medvedev joined Marat Safin and Dima (Dmitry) Tursunov as the most entertaining Russian figures inevitably at the last Slam over the years. Medvedev is also shopping for trainers, etc, parting however on a fairly cordial warm note.
