G. DIMITROV/D. Medvedev
4-6, 6-4, 6-3
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Can you explain what happened? Up a set and two breaks and things just went awry after that. It was a bit surprising as we were watching it.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I mean, there are three things I want to say, because tennis is not about just one thing. First of all, I mean, I don't remember myself losing three service games, even four service games ever, I guess, on hard courts. That shows how slow this court is and the conditions, more like clay, I would say, which I don't like, because to lose four times the serve is just unacceptable. Yeah, that's why I lost the set.
Second, I knew that during the day, much tougher to control the ball for me, especially on the serve. That's what we saw in some moments I couldn't pass my first serve. That's why I was asking to play at night, but this time it was not possible because I had a day off where other guys played yesterday and were supposed to play today, so they were playing late at night. That's completely normal, but I knew it's not going to advantage me.
Third thing, Grigor, going to be straightforward, if he plays like this like he did starting from 4-1, he's going to win the tournament. But let's see the final result of the tournament.
Q. Obviously you want to win every match you play, but especially given how well you have been playing lately, is this something you'll be able to put into perspective and brush off pretty quickly?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: 100%. If I would lose the US Open final, maybe would have been a little bit tough on myself. But again, actually I didn't discuss with my coach yet, but I do think I see kind of the reasons why this happened, talking about tennis as I already mentioned them just now to Craig, so I don't see an end of the world in this match.
For sure if it would be a Grand Slam and it would go this way, would be tougher to digest. But, yeah, there are so many things to consider in tennis, and I don't think it would happen in Grand Slam because of many reasons.
Yeah, I'm definitely going to just continue working for the next one and just try to be better next time, because, yeah, Indian Wells, I really like the place, so I want to try to do better one day.
Q. Do you feel like it was maybe a little bit that you lost focus when you had the double break lead in the second? Do you think that Grigor played the same way early, or did he just suddenly sort of flip the switch in the second half of the match, in your opinion?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, he definitely flipped the switch. Talking about myself, I did become a little more tired maybe, and at the same time, it's not that I started missing everything and like really playing bad. I still maintained some level, if we can call it like this, so many matches it would be enough to finish the match. Yeah, that's a good thing.
Then, yeah, again, about Grigor, I have not much to say. He played second part of the match better than anybody did against me in US Open that I won. So again, playing this level, I don't see him losing to anybody, but let's see the result.
Q. Towards the end of the match, did you feel that Grigor was starting to tire? Because you started to make a bit of a turnaround at that stage. Even when he was like walking to his towel, it was a slower walk. It looked like he was running out of fuel.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: 100% saw it. That's why I didn't, you know, leave the match completely at 5-1 in the third set. I knew that he can get tight also sometimes, so I knew that I needed to continue putting pressure because I still, yeah, want to win the match no matter what happened before the match or the tournaments before. That's my main goal.
So I tried to put this pressure. I did my best. The game at 5-3, I think he played few winners, so not much, no regrets I really have.
Again, I think there are some small points where I could do better and maybe win the match because of this, because tennis sometimes is a matter of few points, but in general, there is not something where I'm like, Damn, I actually gave him the match, or, Yeah, I should have done 100 times better.
And same about last game. Yeah, maybe I could have been a little bit more precise, play a little bit deeper. Yeah, it's 5-3, he was tired, still able to play some good tennis that was strong, yeah.
Q. You have played a lot of tennis, a lot of success. Let's look ahead. Are you going to give yourself a bit of a break at this point, or what are your plans for the remainder of the season?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I need to see next two days what I do, because I'm signed in Moscow, which is next week. I did sign, because I haven't played there since 2018. It's my hometown, so I wanted to give myself at least a chance to sign, and this time I'm in the draw.
The deadline is Friday. To be honest, yeah, I did feel exhausted this tournament, which of course I will never say before matches, so now I can say it. I did feel tired, and there were a few things coming up during the tournament in terms of my physical. So I'm going to see next few days after this tough match if I'm going to be able to compete in Moscow, which I really want to do, but, yeah, I need to take care of my body.
But anyway, I'm going to go there, just, yeah, I need to see a little bit before the deadline if I'm going to retire or not.
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