J. SINNER/D. Medvedev
6-1, 6-4
Q. (No microphone.)
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I, unfortunately, had pain on my shoulder, which I didn't think I would have. It started yesterday during the match, but I thought it was nothing, and I still think, well, I still hope it's nothing serious, I'll have to do the checks tomorrow.
But it didn't let me serve the way I wanted, and with Jannik serve is important, because he's a great server now, it's tough to break him, so you need to serve well, and without the serve it's tough.
Then when you have pain, the energy's not the same. So, second set I tried to, like, pump my energy up, and it did help me a bit, but still, without the serve, it's tough to beat Jannik, and that's what happened.
Q. It's such a long season, but next week you're going to Saudi Arabia for exhibition match, but so far you are without any titles in your season, what does that mean for your season?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I have three tournaments where I'm signed up, let's see if I play them, especially the problems with the shoulder, the problems, well, this, they started yesterday.
But, yeah, I mean, I always said, you know, I think in tennis titles is the most important thing, and at the same time I'm pretty sure there is maybe, out of top 100, probably like 90, well at least 90 players that would like my season and zero titles, so it is what it is.
And same, you know, yeah, the season is long, and you decide the tournaments you want to play. You have a lot of obligatory tournaments, and I try to play not that much this year, but, yeah, still, yeah, as you say, the season is long, but we do what we can.
Q. What do you make of the improvements that Jannik has made this year?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I mean, he plays well, and I think at this exact moment him and Carlos are probably the best in the world. But as I said, you know, Novak, we know what he's capable of, and he proved it at the Olympics again, especially beating Carlos in the final.
He serves well, he serves much better than before, and even today, you know, where everything was going a little bit his side, the few moments where I could maybe have a look at something, he served very big. He's very consistent, yeah, I mean, he's a great player. I think he has like some crazy stats where he almost never loses before quarterfinals, etcetera, so, yeah, he's a great player.
Q. Are you surprised that you have so many fans in China?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No, not at all. I love China. I always say how this is my favorite probably stop in the year, Shanghai. I love coming back here, love Chinese food, love Chinese people, so I think this love is mutual, and already looking forward to coming back, even if I didn't leave yet.
Q. What will be your focus for the rest of the season now?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think what is very unfortunate today with the shoulder is that I was trying to build something in Beijing and Shanghai, trying to build like the fire, the energy going. I did manage to do it, even the match with Carlos in Beijing, I was kind of really happy with the match, which is very rare when you lose and you're happy.
So, today I'm really disappointed, and not by the result but by that I was not able to like step out there and just continue building this energy going forward. The energy today, I would say I didn't have it because, unfortunately, of my physical condition, and that's going to be the focus, to try to get it back. Well, first of all to stay healthy, and hopefully it's nothing, and then if I can play, then to try to bring this energy back on court.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports