Gilles Cervara, who served as Daniil Medvedev’s longtime coach up until their recent split, has claimed that working alongside Gilles Simon from February 2024 to January this year proved challenging and led to “disruptions” in the Russian’s camp. Medvedev and Cervara confirmed their split following the Russian’s disastrous outing at the 2025 US Open, where the former No. 1 suffered a first-round upset.
Medvedev’s performances have been in decline over the last couple of years, particularly following his painful loss to Jannik Sinner in the final of last year’s Australian Open. The Russian subsequently decided to rope in former ATP star Gilles Simon into his coaching setup, leading to an arrangement where Simon and Cervara worked together to coach the 20-time career singles titlist.
However, in a recent interview with Tennis Majors, Gilles Cervara revealed that his compatriot’s presence in Daniil Medvedev’s camp made things worse for the Russian instead of better.
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"Working with Gilles Simon caused what I called “static,” disruptions, and afterward we tried to restore things—but recovery was difficult. I’d even say it didn’t succeed," Cervara said.
The French coach, who began working with Medvedev back in 2017, went on to shed light on his work with the Russian following Simon's exit from the camp, which came on the back of the former No. 1's shocking second-round loss to American teenage prodigy Learner Tien at this year's Australian Open.
"At that time, post‑Australia after Simon’s departure, we tried to rebuild and start from scratch. In tennis terms, it was all very sluggish. I’m not saying he’s playing great now, but he has resources. I believe with what he will put in place, his level can come back quickly. After Australia, we went into reconstruction. That phase dragged into the whole season—we never got back on the winning track," Cervara added.
"I thought of split with Daniil Medvedev before him" - Gilles Cervara
Earlier in the same interview, Gilles Cervara opened up on how the thought of ending his collaboration with Daniil Medvedev came to him before it did to the Russian. The French coach revealed that he had brought up the subject of leaving Medvedev's camp during a conversation with the Russian's agent at the 2025 Cincinnati Open.
"I think I thought of it before him. I talked about it with his agent in Cincinnati. I was ready. In a frank assessment of the situation, I didn’t want to put Daniil in a corner—or myself. If I had asked him, “Do you think you can carry on like this?” and he’d said “yes,” that would have been a risk—a huge risk," Cervara said.
Daniil Medvedev's 2025 US Open nightmare consisted not only of his first-round defeat at the hands of Benjamin Bonzi, but also his rage-filled on-court outbursts on the day, which resulted in the hardcourt Major slapping him with a hefty fine.
