THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. We had Thanasi in this morning and he was saying that this is a 250 event but it had the feel of a Masters. What do you think about playing such a high-quality event just before the Australian Open? Is it a good thing? Because you're slated to face Novak in the semis if you both get there.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I think definitely. Maybe not a Masters because some players are at United Cup, but definitely 500 easy in terms of level.
Yeah, it's definitely good because first tournament of the year if you manage to win some matches, that's good, because you're going to play good opponents. It's always good to get matches before the first Slam.
The only thing if you lose early, that's when it's tough, because a lot of players don't want to play the second week before the Slam, so you're not going to have as many matches.
But yeah, really strong tournament. Everybody knew it before coming here. Really strong draw, so yeah, everybody needs to be at their best, and we're definitely going to see some great tennis here in Adelaide.
Q. Would you have liked to have had the opportunity to play in the United Cup, or are you very happy here in Adelaide?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I would definitely prefer to play United Cup. I like to play in ATP Cup. United Cup seems interesting. We would be the only team with four players of top 10, so yeah, we would definitely be good favorites, I think, there.
But it is what it is, and I'm happy to be here in Adelaide playing in this tournament.
Q. Following up on that, Daniil, is there any end in sight? Are you hearing anything that Russia will be able to play Davis Cup and these sorts of team events anytime in the near future?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Well, that's definitely not for me to decide. So far I haven't heard anything, and I completely understand why we are not playing Davis Cup or United Cup and team competitions where we would represent our country.
Yeah, hopefully I can play the individual events, and as I said many, many times last year, I play what I can play, so here I can play Adelaide, and I'm really happy about it, and I want to show my best tennis.
It's really exciting, first tournament of the year. Everybody had their preseason. It's the last days' preparation.
I feel like everybody is a little bit nervous, and that's normal. This feeling of the first tournament of the year is really special. I usually feel like I manage to play good these first tournaments, and I like playing in Australia, so really looking forward to it.
Q. Obviously you don't want to look past your first opponent, even your second opponent. Obviously you've got to get through them first, but are you the type of player who looks ahead? We touched on the fact that Novak is in your half; you could get him in a semi and really good opportunity to see where you are ahead of the Australian Open?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I do it as it goes, if it's the right way to say it. Sometimes I look at the draw and I straight away see like quarters, semis, who is there in my part of the draw, and sometimes, yeah, you can ask me my second round, and I will be, okay, I play him, so that's great.
It's like I really don't care much which way. I definitely saw that, yeah, I can play Novak in the semis. I think quarters -- I think if you give me some time, I would remember.
But anyway, you see I don't care. Yeah, exactly, Karen. So yeah, I don't care much. It doesn't make me tight to know my draw further, but after this, yeah, of course it's really important to stay focused on your next match, and I've started thinking already, okay, if I play Novak do I play on his backhand or forehand or whatever, so for sure focus on Sonego first.
Q. Does it motivate you that you could get Novak before the Australian Open?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I don't know. I like to play Novak because yeah, I feel like we have a lot of matches. We had some really great matches with great level of tennis.
At the same time, what motivates me is to be in the semis, and if it's Novak there, it's great. If it's somebody else who beats him, I don't care much; that's also great. It means that somebody is in great shape, managed to probably beat the best player in the world right now. Not talking about rankings, but he won the last maybe five tournaments he played in or four.
Yeah, so I would be happy both ways. I just want to be in the semifinals to start, and yeah, don't care who I play.
Q. You talked about you would have preferred to play United Cup. Did you raise an eyebrow at all that someone who did have a chance, Nick Kyrgios, whose not to play or pulled out and hasn't played Davis Cup and everything like that?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Well, from what I remember, Nick likes to play team competitions. I think he played Davis Cup a couple of times.
You never know if he's really injured. I mean, he had some problems with his body in the past, so if he wants to preserve his body before Australian Open, that's completely normal. If it's some other issues which I don't know about, well, it's for him to talk about, that's for sure, not for me.
But yeah, same, if I would be in United Cup but I would get injured before the tournament, I would withdraw actually. I withdrew once from Davis Cup because I was completely burned out at the end of the season. I think it was 2018. So I can relate, I can understand. Yeah, not much to add.
Q. Can we get you to talk a little bit about your rivalry with Nick? You've obviously played five times. You've met three times last year, twice at Grand Slams. He got you at US Open, but we all remember --
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I won only one time, right?
Q. We all remember that match at the Australian Open; it was quite colorful, great tennis and a bit of drama.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think the two times we played before -- what was the second time? I remember Washington, but I don't remember the first time. Anyway, we were not -- at least I was not at the same level I am right now.
The three matches we played last year, I feel like all of the three were great matches. For sure I wanted to play better the two ones that I lost. But Nick is a great player, great serve.
I don't feel like we have like some crazy rivalry, because yeah, he definitely has some more spiced-up rivalries with other players, so I feel like, yeah, when I play him, just a great matchup, and for sure I would like to play him more to try to do better than last year, and definitely US Open was not easy to handle, so I want to try to get my revenge if I have the chance.
Q. A little bit of a cheeky question, but if you remember that match, the comment you made about the crowd, the "low IQ" comment, do you think the Australian crowd might be a little bit smarter 12 months on?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Well, basically first of all, the thing that I said was like to maybe -- the stadium, Rod Laver is, what, 15,000, 12,000, 13,000? Out of 13,000 that were there, because the stadium was packed, this comment was maybe to 50 people max. That's the first thing.
This comment was probably not smart from my part, but I was -- when you go out from the match, the way it was, the match with Nick, yeah, sometimes you say things right after where you're like, why did I say this. First off, that's maybe not true, then it's stupid.
Yeah, that's why we love sports. That's why during the match we have some crazy moments, all of us, and generally I like Australian crowd.
I remember when I played de Minaur in Sydney; for sure also the stadium was for him. But I remember after the match sitting with my coach and saying that it was a great atmosphere. They were not disrespectful for sure.
When it's disrespectful, it's tough for any player. That's not easy. Like after the match you're a little bit disappointed, like why does it have to be like this, so that's not easy.
But again, everybody loves playing in Australia. It's a great atmosphere. I'm looking forward to playing here, and hopefully it's going to be a good one.
Q. The final against Rafa which was really good to watch, how did you feel afterwards? How do you recover from being so close and just losing out?
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Well, I felt terrible. I felt absolutely terrible. Again, the thing about life and tennis is that you have to get over it, try to learn from it because you cannot change the past.
I had some tough moments in my career. When I say tough moments, tough losses -- I know a lot of losses in a row, and I always managed to find a way back, so I'm sure I'm going to find the way back to even higher level than I was playing maybe last year.
But yeah, the match was not easy to get over for some time, but at least right now, yeah, I'm looking forward to Australian Open again, and I want to do better than last year. That's the goal.
For sure if I have to remember last year's final, I'm like, okay, I have to do better next time. I have to try to close out the match.
Q. Do you think this year will be possibly even more difficult? We've got people like Felix has improved, Holger Rune has come from nowhere, Carlos at the top. It seems a seriously high-quality top 10.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think it's always difficult, really, because it's always some new players that come in. Some old ones are maybe playing a little bit worse, but then they're coming back, like let's say Sascha was not playing for a lot of months, but he can come back any moment and he's going to be a contender. Even Dominic, he's in tough moment, but he's a guy who won a Slam, so any moment in his career he can be back at one moment, and he can start just winning matches, winning tournaments.
Same, of course, Carlos is No. 1 in the world right now, playing amazing. So many good players. Sometimes there are sensations in the first round, so I want to say you have to focus as much as you can on yourself, try to show your best tennis, and that's when you can win Grand Slams and big tournaments.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports