D. MEDVEDEV/A. Rublev
6-4, 6-2
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Hello, everyone.
THE MODERATOR: Daniil, if you could walk us through today's match. What was the key?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Was a very tough one, especially the first set. Close, close margins. Me, I believe that these tennis matches can go either way, so I'm happy today I managed to do better serves on break points, less mistakes. Because of this tough first set, I think second set he dropped his level.
I managed to take it, and really happy with the win.
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Your 81st match of the season. Nobody played more than you. How can you be so fit?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: The thing is why I also have this many matches is because I won some tournaments or played finals. I think in terms of tournaments, I don't know which number I am out of eight, if we talk only how many tournaments I played, but I don't think I will be in top four. I think Sascha played more. Probably Rublev played more.
I have many matches because I won some tournaments. Also, it's work that we do in practice. It's always a question, Do I rest three days and then I go to practice or do I rest seven days? It's always this balance: rest, practice, work, gym, tournament.
We try to make the best schedule as possible. With tennis it's tough. We have a tough schedule in tennis. So far with my team it's been working great, so I'm happy I managed to stay fit today.
Q. The relationship with Andrey, closest friend, your daughter's godfather, when you go on court, what is it like to be in that situation? Is it difficult or easy to shut that situation out? Whoever might win or lose, how much time do you give them before connecting again?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Depends the person. Me, usually - depends the match - but in general I need probably one hour, around this. Depends the match. Sometimes two. Sometimes 30 minutes. I kind of laugh about it. For sure I will be disappointed, but I can talk to people, laugh about it.
I think Andrey needs a little bit more time, but that's just the way he is.
To be honest, on court, I don't know how it is for him, for me on court, doesn't exist, friends, enemies. I just try to win the match. I don't think about anything else.
But when the last point is finished, it's like I feel sorry for him, he lost the match. But it's the same for him. If he beats me, I mean, last year was brutal when he beat me. So I felt for one or two days he was kind of shy to talk to me, taking care.
It's the same. You always try to look at him and see if tomorrow we can talk like normal. I'm going say him good luck, go for it the next matches, and he's probably going to say the same.
Q. Even if you're very young, still a champion, about your future, what would you like to be when you will not be a tennis player anymore? Would you like to be a TV commentator? I think you are quite unpredictable when you talk and say things. I think you have a style to be very good.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I don't know. I will have to try many things after my career to see what I like because I want to do something I like.
I think commentator could be something I can try. I don't know if I'm going to like it. If I'm not going to like it, I'm going to say, Okay, I don't do it. Same about coaching. I don't know if I could be a good coach, but I would like to try it one day.
But what I for sure will try to do, depends how my life goes, but I will try to be an amateur racing driver. That's my dream. For sure I cannot go professional anywhere. But some like Ferrari Challenge or whatever, where you pay money and you race throughout the whole year on the best tracks of the world, this I'm going to do with some of my friends.
Q. Are you surprised about Sascha's victory over Carlos?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: If you would ask me two, three months ago, for sure. Tennis is very, very tricky sport. At this moment, for whatever reason, we feel that Carlos plays just a little bit slower. He doesn't have the same confidence he had throughout the whole year. This can happen to everyone. This even happen to Novak when he was younger. The question is, how fast is he going to recover. Is it going to be this tournament or next year.
When he lost the second set, they showed the speed of the strokes, groundstrokes. Sascha was like 10 kilometers higher than Carlos. This is very surprising.
In general when I saw the match, in the beginning we felt that Carlos is not playing his best. Sascha also. So I'm not surprised at all.
In the end it turned out to be a great fight and a great match. No surprises. Sascha can play well also, serve well. It's going to be interesting to play him for the 18th time.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports