N. DJOKOVIC/D. Medvedev
6-3, 6-7, 7-6
THE MODERATOR: Again, very close. Can you take any positives out of this match?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No. That's my answer, sorry (laughter). I mean, I guess was a good fight, but no positives, no.
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Would you say this transcends a sporting rivalry? Is this a league of your own what you and Novak have going on here?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Novak is a league of his own, that's for sure, with Rafa and Roger. Then it's the rest. Maybe one moment somebody's going to try to catch them number of slams or whatever, then we going to talk about different.
I definitely don't put myself in there. We had some tough battles. He's leading in head-to-head, even if I won some important matches. Yeah, that's all I can say.
Yeah, I definitely, definitely not close to Novak. Maybe when we play, yes, but in general you cannot compare myself to him or any one of the big three.
Q. Given that you were 0-2 and he was 2-0, I think that was not necessarily the fight that a lot of us were expecting. Is it just when you step onto the court the competition takes over? What were you playing for today?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, before the match I didn't have much motivation, so was not easy. It was not easy. But during the match I thought I saw he was going 100%. I was like, All right, let's play, let's have fun.
That's what happened. That's it.
Q. It's uncharacteristic for you, two matches back to back where you're serving for the match and not able to close it out. Are you able to explain that situation?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Super easy: I sucked, so...
That's what happened. It's disaster. What I'm really happy is that this match didn't count in going out of the group, otherwise I would have two matches where I lost serving for the match. At least this one didn't count.
But, yeah, that's awful. I'm going to try to be better next time. I have no other choice.
Q. Even if you lost these matches, are you confident about you coming back to your level after a year when you won two tournaments?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I'm sure, yes. If I wouldn't have Astana and Vienna tournament where I played really great level, maybe I would be a little bit less confident.
In general after Australian Open I cannot find huge result from myself, even if I made some finals, won one tournament. I didn't play bad. I mean, I'm in Torino in the top eight. But I would expect more from myself.
But Vienna and Astana I played great. I mean, today I played great. Let's be honest. I'm confident I'm going to be able to do something big in the future. Just need to continue working. Going to be sad for one, two days, then enjoy my days off, then get ready for the next season.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports