Daniil Medvedev coach’s NHL passion, Rangers hat has proved good luck charm at US Open

Three years ago, when Daniil Medvedev won his first U.S. Open title, his coach, Gilles Cervara, was wearing a blue New York Rangers cap.

Hailing from France, a country not known to be a hockey market, Cervara said it is his second favorite sport to watch behind tennis.

So the longtime coach began collecting NHL hats from the cities he visited four or five years ago, which he continues to do in his seventh year working with Medvedev.

The Rangers one, however, has proven to be special this time of year.

“I found the blue Rangers cap in a store, it was not the official [NHL] store because it was closed at that time after COVID, and it was the last one,” Cervara told The Post after Medvedev’s practice on Tuesday, ahead of his Wednesday night quarterfinal match against No. 1-seeded Jannik Sinner.

“I don’t buy any kind of cap. I just buy the ’47 [brand hats]. From the first day, every day I had this cap [on] and he won the trophy here. I never [wore] it again until last year [at the Open] and he made the final.

“Before the final I was like, ‘How is this possible? He can win the tournament and I would have the cap on my head only for this tournament!’ Crazy.”

Sporting a different camouflage Rangers hat, which he wears on practice days in Flushing Meadows, Cervara — who never played hockey but has tried to skate — reminisced on watching the sport for the first time when he was 15 in France.

The 43-year-old can’t help but smile when talking about the Canadiens winning the Stanley Cup in 1993.

One mention of Hall of Fame netminder and current Islanders coach Patrick Roy and Cervara can go on and on.

Having lived in Miami during one of the most pivotal points in his life, Cervara was elated to see the Florida Panthers win the Stanley Cup this year.

The fact they were led by star goalie Sergei Bobrovsky only made Cervara wear his Panthers hat more proudly while he was at Wimbledon earlier this summer.

If it wasn’t clear by the four NHL teams and two NHL players already mentioned, Cervara is a fan of the sport as a whole and is fascinated by goaltenders.

“I was very impressed with the goalies,” he said. “Something is, you know, electric, their movement. And the goalie is the guy who can change the [game], so something similar to myself.”

Cervara has attended NHL games in Los Angeles and Florida, but never at the home of the Rangers, Madison Square Garden. He hopes to someday.

While Cervara has supported the Rangers in Flushing, the Blueshirts’ star player, Artemi Panarin, has supported Medvedev before.

Panarin attended Medvedev’s title match in 2021. The compatriots are friendly, and Panarin has even gifted Medvedev one of his No. 10 jerseys.

Maybe the New York Rangers can be good luck for Medvedev once again.