MASON − When Daniil Medvedev arrived at the fourth-floor media room at the Lindner Family Tennis Center on Thursday, Aug. 13, it was as if he had just gotten out of a pool.
Medvedev had just finished a practice session on a humid afternoon at the Cincinnati Open, but the former World No. 1 was sweating something else, too − the rubber game between the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox at Rate Field 309 miles away.
"It's not finished yet," Medvedev said after the Reds took a 9-5 lead in the sixth inning.
The Reds eventually held on for a series win on the South Side of Chicago, which made Medvedev happy as he prepares for the Cincinnati Open. Medvedev won the Cincinnati Open in 2019 and reached the semifinals in 2021 and 2022. His last three Mason trips have been short-lived, though, but a bright spot of a few early exits was that he found a team to obsess over.
Last year, after losing in the Round of 64 to Adam Walton, Medvedev went to Great American Ball Park to watch the Reds before heading to New York for the US Open.
"When I was young, I was playing a lot of Play Station. It was a PSP (PlayStation Portable). I liked playing baseball, so I knew the rules in a way. When I lost here last year, I went to see a (Reds) game. I was like, 'why haven't I gone before?' Medvedev said. "I started watching baseball more than any other sport, except tennis. Since they were the first team I saw live, why not be a Cincinnati Reds fan?"
Medvedev quickly realized from the constant cheering and clapping that Elly De La Cruz was the team's best player. It didn't take long until he was hooked. The constant jet-setting around the globe while on the ATP tour doesn't blend well with watching games live, but thanks to his Play Station days, Medvedev knows what to look for during frequent dives into box scores.
"I'm watching any time I can. In Europe, it's tough. Whenever they play earlier or when I was in Canada (last week for Canadian Open), I watched every day," he said. "I know pretty much every player and every stat. When I'm a fan of something, I like to really be into it.
"That's my team."
Medvedev, the current World No. 7, has sponsorships with Lacoste for clothing, Tecnifibre for his racket and Bovet, a premium watch manufacture. He's also repped by BMW and EA Sports.
This summer at Wimbledon, the pinnacle of tennis, there were no sponsored posts on his official X account. What is there? A picture of him holding a personalized Reds jersey given to him by Beemok Sports & Entertainment President and Cincinnati Open Tournament Director Bob Moran.
"What a win last night!" Medvedev wrote in a post about the Reds' 9-7 comeback victory over the Pirates at PNC Park on Saturday, June 27.
August has been tough for Medvedev's Reds' fandom and on the court. In Canada, he was upset in the Round of 64 in straight sets. When he arrived in Mason, he was greeted with the news that Hunter Greene needed a second Tommy John surgery and will miss the rest of next season.
"Unlucky," Medvedev said. "As a fellow sportsman, these things happen. Hopefully he can recover as fast as possible."
Despite Greene's injury, Medvedev said he still enjoys watching rising stars like Chase Burns and Sal Stewart, though the All-Star duo are the "obvious picks" in the lineup.
He doesn't know which Reds player he'd like to play tennis with, but will meet members of the club on Monday, Aug. 17 when he throws out the first pitch at GABP before the Reds open a five-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
"Honestly, I have no idea," Medvedev said on his pitching skills. "In Russia, we don't (play baseball). I have no idea if I have the coordination, balance and other stuff. I do not think I would be a good pitcher, but who knows? I can run. Maybe I could hit. You never know."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How did tennis star Daniil Medvedev become a die-hard Reds fan?
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