In an interview with Russian outlet Championat ahead of this week’s Vienna Open, Medvedev identified a lack of player influence as the single biggest issue in the sport, saying players have “practically no power” over how the game is run.

He pointed to the ATP’s Players’ Council and told Championat that it is not enough to give the dressing room real weight when the calendar, prize money distribution and other core issues are decided. Medvedev said he will support any collective push the players make, rather than lead one himself.

Medvedev’s own 2026 as the case study

Medvedev is a case study for his own complaint. He is ranked fifth in the world and fifth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. On Wednesday he beat Daniel Merida 7-6(5), 6-1 in his Vienna first round, a victory that made him the ATP Tour’s leading hard-court winner in 2026 with 39.

Vienna is his second tournament inside a week. He won the Almaty Open on Sunday, beating Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-7(6-8), 6-1, 6-3 for a fourth title of the year and the first successful title defence of his career.

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In Almaty he told reporters his body was tired, but he saw no sense in skipping Kazakhstan only to sit at home for three days before Vienna. He turned the complaint on the calendar itself.

“I have always been in favor of giving more importance to the biggest tournaments because the fact that we can play up to 30 tournament weeks in a year is not ideal,” he told Punto de Break at Almaty.

The players lost a lead voice on this fight in January

The question of who speaks for the players has shifted across 2026. In January, Novak Djokovic cut ties with the Professional Tennis Players Association he co-founded with Vasek Pospisil, citing concerns over transparency and governance at the body. The PTPA’s 2025 antitrust action against the ATP, WTA, ITF and ITIA had placed what it called an unsustainable calendar at the center of its complaint.

He plays Cameron Norrie in the Vienna second round. The Erste Bank Open runs until 1 November, with the Paris Masters and, for the eight who qualify, the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin left on the 2026 schedule.

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