D. MEDVEDEV/A. Murray
6-4, 6-2
THE MODERATOR: Your first match here. Were you impressed by your form?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I played quite good. Playing against Andy is never easy. Yes, maybe he's just a little less strong than when he was winning slams, of course, and when he was the No. 1 in the world, but yet in last few years we saw many tough matches, many good wins from him.
I'm sure that, yeah, he's close to maybe getting like breaking this margin back. He was in the final this year, so I knew that I have to be at my best and I have to expect very good tennis from him.
Managed to serve well, and I think that was one of the keys today. No breakpoints for him. When it's tough for you to get a breakpoint, it works on both sides, you get more pressure on your serve, so I think that's what kind of happened, because second set was going pretty tight in the beginning, but he just cracked just a little bit and I managed to take it. Yeah, that's what happened.
THE MODERATOR: Questions?
Q. How do you prepare for next match, Martinez?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I actually didn't see the match, because they were playing just when I finished. Saw the score. I played him actually one or two times in juniors. I think one time in pros in Australian Open. So I know how he plays.
He's climbing the rankings, and I like him. I think, yeah, he's a really good guy, climbing the rankings, improving his tennis.
So I will talk with my coach, like I do all the time, to see what kind of tactic we use, which plan we use, but the most important is to serve good, play good, and like this I will have my chances to win.
Q. Obviously top seed. Novak is not here, Rafa is not here. Do you like to be in that position where you are the guy that everyone is kind of looking at? Does it release any pressure for you or put more pressure onto yourself?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think it always works both sides, because for sure guys going against you are gonna have this more motivation, you know, because for them it's going to be, for some young guys or maybe for somebody who is going to be maybe the biggest win in their season, career, to get this, so a lot of motivation for them.
In the same time, many times we see people just like with a high ranking just straightaway bring the high intensity from the first point and can be tough for the other guys. Same for me, you know. I like to be in this position, because, well, it's obviously better to be top-2, top-10 player than to be lower in the rankings, because the higher in the rankings you are, the better.
But the more pressure you have, because more people and you yourself expect from yourself, like in the beginning of my career I would be really happy when I was for the first time, I think it was probably Indian Wells when I was in the third round for the first time in Masters 1000, I was really happy to be there.
Now, well, I want to achieve more. So, yeah, it's definitely more pressure but also more motivation to continue doing better.
Q. A technical question. I saw Murray was using a lot the slice against you mostly in the second set. Is that a type of shot that bother you or not particularly? Because I saw you manage really well to play the backhand good even if he kept using the slice.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: You know, it's a tough question, because it depends when it's used, how it's used, and by who. I mean, for example, you know, like I think Dominic Thiem likes to use slice against me, and then after the matches he's saying, Yeah, I feel like it's a good tactic against Daniil. But he has one of the best slices in the world, so, yeah, when he slices, it's not easy for me.
But usually it's like kind of every shot. You know serve and volley, what else can we do, dropshots, anything can work well if you do it good.
Today I managed to, kind of everything that Andy did, I think I managed to counter it, because that's what happens many times in tennis. You know, when you choose a shot, you want your opponent to miss. So basically when he was slicing, for sure, he had something in mind.
I managed to see very well when he was slicing, so I could turn around with my forehand and bring some more pace. So today was going my side. So, yeah, sometimes slice can bother me; sometimes no. It's about which shot you make at the right moment.
Q. You were touching on the rankings just now. With the No. 1 ranking, now that you have achieved it, obviously it's very nice to be up there, but do you see it now as the be all, end all that you still have to be there, or is it a case of been there, done that, and when I get back, it will be nice?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Same. It's kind of both, because definitely want to be back there. You know, felt good to touch it. It's something that nobody can take away from me. Yeah, it's like it's done. Nobody can say, Yeah, but you were only, yeah, for two weeks, but I was there.
Many, many, many great players, legends of our sport haven't done this, so I'm happy about it. But definitely when I lost it, not playing good in Indian Wells, I was like, Yeah, okay, back to the practice court, have to make semis in Miami to get it back. Let's try to do it.
I would like to say I think it's experience, so I knew how it felt. I knew what I have done to be there. Even if one moment I'm gonna be, let's say, not No. 2 but No. 5, 10, I'm gonna know that, okay, you have to win this many tournaments, this many points, and maybe you'll have this chance back.
I always prepare match by match, so for example, I'm not looking to semis here. I will be looking to the match against Pedro, but definitely I have a lot of motivation to try and get it back.
The thing is that if I get it back by making semis, I'm going to have more motivation to try to win the tournament, because like this, I'm going to win 700 more points than for semis, and it's going to be a bigger gap.
So, yeah, I think I'm definitely happy that I have reached it, and a lot of motivation to try to be there for a long time.
Q. You mentioned obviously the breakpoint, but overall, how confident are you with your serve? Is there growing confidence in your serve continually on it?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: It can depend many, many things. Surface of course, like conditions, sometimes if the surface is slow and it's cold and let's say a little bit windy, your serve is going to be a little bit less important, and then it comes to are you able to break the guy as many times as possible, and, well, you can kind of be okay with losing the serve sometimes.
Then sometimes, you know, I remember some matches, I'm not going to tell which ones, but I was in trouble on Grand Slams, and by holding my serve, I managed to come back in some tough matches, and it was basically the first shot that helped me save my life was the serve.
I think serve is probably the most important shot in tennis, because, yeah, we don't see people doing when I say underarm serve nonstop and winning Grand Slams, so -- I'm not saying about one, one is a good shot, but, yeah, everybody, you know, even great champions which were sometimes young and we could say, Yeah, their serve is not at their best yet, they all learned to serve good, because that's the most important shot.
Q. What's your level of respect for Andy? Hip replacement, achieved everything in this sport, doesn't need the money, 34, still grinding it out, a lot of second-round losses in the last year and a half, what's your level of respect for him? Do you ever see yourself like this in eight, nine years?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: It's amazing, and, you know, it's always tough to answer if I see myself, because I think if you ask -- I wonder if you ask Andy, probably somebody asked, but I haven't seen an answer, like when he was 25 or maybe 20 years old, if people would tell him what he has achieved, would he continue playing at 34 and trying to get back, get some wins, I'm not sure he would say yes.
Maybe, but so it's same for me. I never know how my life is going to turn, what's gonna happen, but what he's doing is amazing.
As I said, the thing is that you know sometimes how it is in our modern world, especially with social media, a lot of hates, so he can get some I remember last year for taking wildcards from young guys or whatever, but I have huge, huge respect for him, because as I said, he had a lot of wins last few years and a lot of tight matches where he could have won, and it was just a matter of few points, maybe just a little of confidence boost, so me personally, I see him coming back to the top. I think it's possible. I'm sure that's why he's also continuing to play.
At the same time, maybe it's not going to happen, but what he's doing is amazing, I think, without talking about our sport, is just for him, for him and his family, it's amazing. He's an amazing fighter, and I love it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports