In sports, they say the middle is the worst place to be. Why? Being in the middle means the path to winning the highest prize(s) the sport has to offer is cut off, either temporarily or permanently. Being in the middle indicates an athlete or team has reached a point of stagnation, and the window to win only remains open for so long.
Many who face this wall adopt a similar look and feeling to Daniil Medvedev in the above photo.
It feels like ever since his stunning defeat to legend and recently retired Rafael Nadal in the 2022 Australian Open final after being up two sets, Daniil Medvedev has been on a rollercoaster ride in his career. Before this defeat, Medvedev had been riding high, coming off capturing his first-ever Grand Slam title as the victor of the 2021 US Open.
Can Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Jessica Pegula overcome their walls?
Since then, Medvedev has won some ATP titles, but major titles have alluded him. He lost in the 2023 US Open final to Novak Djokovic, and in the 2024 Australian Open final to Jannik Sinner, again being up two sets as he was against Nadal in 2022. Then, there was the first-round loss and ensuing meltdown in this year's 2025 US Open.
The biggest wall Medvedev faces in getting back in the championship conversation is the field of competitors. It's one thing to face the wall of getting over-the-hump to win a major; it's another when the field has caught up to you, because then the path to winning at the highest level becomes all the more bleak.
The 2025 US Open first-round loss all but cemented the fact that the field is more than capable of handling what Daniil is currently serving.
Medvedev isn't alone, though, in facing the wall that is the field. Even though his seat hasn't been saved just yet at the hypothetical "Champion's Table", he at least has an invitation by way of winning at least one Grand Slam major, a feat not yet achieved by major title hopefuls, Alexander "Sascha" Zverev and Jessica Pegula, who both have consistently been outside the party looking through the window.
Sascha Zverev has always hovered in that tier of being a "very good, not great" player. His best Grand Slam result to date is runner-up. Zverev and Medvedev are currently overshadowed by young phenoms like Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, watching them rack up major titles as if it were taking candy from a baby.
Aside from those two, new opponents are in Zverev's way as well, as evidenced by his 2025 US Open third-round loss to 25-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Jessica Pegula makes it a canoe for two in the "very good, not great" tier. Pegula had a promising 2025 US Open run, earning significant victories and giving a tremendous effort in her semifinal loss to Aryna Sabalenka, the eventual champion. Like Zverev, she's only ever reached a Grand Slam final
in singles competition.
She, too, is overshadowed by a young phenom in Coco Gauff. For Zverev and Pegula, it feels like a case of being invited to the wedding, yet never being the bride or groom.