D. MEDVEDEV/J. Sinner
7-5, 6-3
THE MODERATOR: Daniil, well done. You had a couple of winning streaks in the past, but is this the most consistently well you have played over a long period of time?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think 2019 was great also with six finals and, yeah, it was also new for me in 2019. So I think it's kind of the same. The big difference is that 2019 -- no, actually not. I wanted to say it was mostly in the USA, but then there was Russia and China. Here it's kind of the same, all over the world.
Really happy. It's the best start of the season I have ever had. Amazing amount of points won. For sure a pity there was no Grand Slam at this period of time, but yeah, generally super happy and looking forward to the season even more.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. When you signed on the camera, you signed that it was shaky hands, but throughout the game, you showed composure and strength. First of all, were you feeling any kind of pain throughout the game? Second of all, how would you say that you encountered this pain throughout the game? What is it that goes through your head?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No, I didn't have any pain, but mentally was not easy. It was my finally first win in one year and a half at an event like a Masters, so yeah, at the end I felt a little bit tight, especially when I broke him in the second and I got a little bit too tight, didn't manage to play a good game. He broke back.
And then I'm happy that when I broke back again I managed to serve well. After the match, because it was so hot and humid, I could feel it also. That's I would say mostly shaky hands was together the tightness for sure of the match with these hot and humid conditions where in the end, you're like, oh, my God, it's the stress of the body.
I just wrote it, because when they asked me to sign the camera, I was like, Oh, my God, I won't be able to do it. So that's why I wrote it.
Q. First of all, congratulations. Another win. Some might say you're kind of good on hard courts (smiling). Five Masters 1000, all the finals, both in Grand Slams and Masters 1000 on hard court. How would you describe obviously how you feel on a hard court surface that you're obviously very successful, and the only one, only tournament that's missing is Indian Wells. How do you feel?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: That's the only one -- Montreal also, I guess. It's Canada, so I don't know how we count it. But yeah, Indian Wells is tough. To make final this year was amazing. I mean, the match with Zverev, what I saved like 10 breakpoints second set was a little bit of a miracle, especially with the ankle.
Generally I love hard courts. I love playing on it. Yeah, if it would be my choice, it would be only hard courts, but I completely understand that that's not fair, if we can say like this.
So, yeah, I feel the best at my game on hard courts. Even if I know that I can play well enough on the grass and clay, on hard courts I feel the most fluid. On hard courts I can play not my best tennis but still win the matches. That's a big difference.
Q. Congratulations. What do you think is the difference between the start to this year and the start to last year? Although last year started pretty good, in the finals in Australia, but after that, you had -- was it the injury? You had the surgery? Or is it more mental in addition to being healthier? And then just my second question is now you're going to clay, you always make jokes about your play there, but you were quarters of French last year, right?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Last year fourth round and before quarters. Not too bad.
What was the first one, about -- yeah, last year. It's true that there could be many reasons. The final against Rafa was tough. The reception in the final was tough, and maybe I was the reason to it, but I'm not sure it was 100% this. So to digest it was not easy. But I thought that I could make it easy.
I knew that I had the surgery coming. Miami, Indian Wells were always tough tournaments for me. Usually Miami was as slow as Indian Wells. I don't think I have ever had an amazing start of the season, and usually this finals in Australian Open, the two I made, was the best I did, together with ATP Cup, for sure.
Yeah, this year Australia was not good enough, so I'm happy that I managed to turn the other part around, which is for sure Rotterdam and on and on.
I think, yeah, I always try to do my best, always try to work hard. You never know when it's gonna pay, and I'm happy that it did pay at this moment.
Talking about clay, again, I know that I can play well on clay. I beat Novak once on clay. I actually beat Tsitsipas and Novak at the same tournament once, wow. That's pretty good achievement on clay.
But if on hard courts like here I feel like many of the matches I didn't play my best tennis, but I managed to win them and the tournament. Clay court is tougher for me. If I don't play my best tennis, I can lose much easier. So yeah, hopefully I can be at my best on clay court season.
Q. You mentioned after the Eubanks match obviously the importance of consistency in the game itself. Can you delve into a little bit more about that, and especially with your start? And just to delve into, if you don't mind, maybe something that's underrated about your game, your opinion.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Underrated (smiling). I would say in a way my attacking skills, because I know that I'm good in defense, and especially on the return games, I can be sometimes defensive and there are some points I win kind of by just putting the ball back and making the opponents miss, but on my serve I feel like I'm pretty aggressive all the time. And on the opponent's serve, sometimes when I see my good matches, if I make a good return, then from the position I'm at, I'm really fast to go forward and maybe attack the next one.
So I think, yeah, this could be a little bit underrated in my game, the attacking skills I have.
Talking about consistency, why I was talking about Eubanks is that we have many players, you know, that can shine on the week, and he definitely shined here. The question is will he be able to do it five weeks in a year, and five weeks maybe will take you to top 70, 60, depends if it's a Grand Slam or a 250. Or you can shine ten weeks, and ten weeks usually can get you around top 20 maybe.
That's the toughest part. You know, we see so many players playing amazing, let's say, in Davis Cup. For me, it's like, okay, it's great that you can play like this, but why don't you try to play like this throughout the whole year. Okay, throughout the whole year it's not possible for anyone, but yeah, the more you try to do it, the better your life will be.
Q. Jannik was just saying that you are the player he has the most trouble with.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: This makes me shy, I would say, because that's a compliment, I guess (smiling).
Q. It is, it is. What would you say is the part of your game and what you do when you face him that causes him so many issues when you look at the record?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Somehow my shots don't let him, and I don't do it on purpose, it's not like before the match I'm like, Okay, I'm going to do exactly this shot to put him in trouble, but I can see throughout all the matches that we played that my shots don't let him completely, what's the word, like expose his game, which is hitting winners all over the place.
Like the match against Carlos, the match against Rublev, Ruusuvuori, he was just blasting the ball past his opponents, doing unbelievable winners. Somehow my ball doesn't let him do it, or maybe I'm reading his game a little bit better, so I'm pushing him more to the error.
I feel like already this year he's stepping up, stepping up, so he starts to miss less and less. The match in Rotterdam was a brutal one. I mean, today the first set he had the first break.
He's getting definitely closer and closer, but I hope I can continue bringing him this trouble because I'm sure I'm going to see him in the later stages of the tournament if I manage to play well.
Q. A nontournament question. What is your comment to Wimbledon letting back the Russian and Belarusian players? The Olympics not being really clear about that. Has any player ever expressed any negativity towards you because of the war or where you come from?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: In the locker room, no. So for sure on Internet we can see a lot of things, and I try not to go into it too much, because we have too much hate on social media. And the more you go into this, the more it can bring you trouble in your life.
So in the locker room, never experienced it. Yeah, I always said that's why I embrace ATP Tour, because I feel like out of 100 players, yes, maybe here and there there is going to be 5 or 10 which not even you don't like but maybe you're not friends, but out of 90, I don't know, I can laugh, speak, it's an easygoing tour and I love it.
About Wimbledon, I'm really happy. Same about Olympics. Every tournament I can play I'm happy to play tennis all over the world, to play for the fans, to play for people. Last year I was not able to play. Well, I practiced. I practiced and got ready for next tournaments.
But I'm really happy that I can try to make better result this year. That's the only tournament I haven't been in quarters.
Q. Congratulations. You mentioned the Friday night semifinal match with Carlos and Jannik. Do you think maybe it's human nature that that took a little bit out of him? I mean, the crowd was crazed and you saw it.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Personally, 100%. I had myself, it's many, many times, the further you go in the tournament, the tougher the opponent. Sometimes in the semis you can have a crazy match.
I had it myself a few times. I won't even go into examples, but sometimes you play a semifinal, it could be not even crazy in terms of timing, but sometimes you give it all emotionally, and it can be really tough to get ready for the final. That's experience.
So I heard he said that he got also a little bit sick, so that doesn't help. But you learn from it. I feel like for whatever reason in Indian Wells, maybe the ending of the Tiafoe match where a lot of match points saved by him, so I got really emotional, maybe didn't let me completely expose myself in the final, or maybe it was Carlos who played amazing. You can never know.
It's not easy, and that's why finals are not easy, especially in Masters 1000.
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