US OPEN

September 9, 2020

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

D. MEDVEDEV/A. Rublev

7-6, 6-3, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I don't know if you had a problem with the shoulder, cramping, I have no idea, but when you saw Rublev lose in the first set, did you say to yourself, Oh, thanks God, it's like when we were kids, he hasn't changed?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No, not at all, because the thing is that when we were kids, we could actually go crazy, and because of this, lose the match. It was not the case here. The guy straight from the first point of the second set was there to fight.

I wish, but right now it's not that easy because we are at a different level.

Q. What is your physical problem, if you had one? Are you worried about it, or you're not going to tell us because you keep it secret?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No, no, everything is quite fine. I just got a little bit tired at the end of the third set with really physical match that we had. My shoulder started to hurt just a little. And in order not to finish the third set, imagine I would serve one serve, and I don't know, just pull my shoulder.

I call the physio, so he took care of it. I was cramping a little bit, so he also masked me, and it helped a lot. As you saw at the end, I was able to be 100%.

Q. You have spoken so much this week about how you take every match match by match. But when you see the tournament favorite, Djokovic, go out, do you think for a second, Oh, my goodness, this is such a good opportunity now? Or do you actively have to push those thoughts out of your head?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No, to be honest with you, yeah, I said it already, that the problem is that Djokovic was not in my half even. So in order to meet him, I would need to be in the final.

So if I'm going to be in the final, then of course there is no Djokovic, maybe I'm going to say to myself, Yeah, this is an opportunity here, maybe bigger than if I would face Djokovic.

Right now I still have semis to play. Djokovic is the other side of draw, so that's how I think pragmatically, and that's how I take it.

Q. Were you always good at focusing like that, just keeping the match in front of you, or was that something you had to work on in your career?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I'm not sure I was good at it when I was a junior or maybe just coming to pros, but that's something I realized works for me. And, yeah, before maybe, as I said, playing juniors, I could watch, Okay, I'm going to play him in the semis if I get there.

For example, talking about this year's US Open, I just watched first two rounds when I saw the draw. Then accidentally somebody told me who I'm going to face in third round, something like this.

It's not a superstition. I don't care. Yeah, I mean, everywhere on Instagram you will see Medvedev is in the part of Thiem and not Djokovic. I don't care to know it. But, as I said, I take it match by match because, well, I need to prepare next opponent. I need to win this match in order to prepare the next one.

I'm not going to think, I'm going to play lefty in the fourth round so maybe I have to practice with a lefty today. Maybe I play a righty tomorrow.

Q. You were speaking during the Cincinnati tournament about the challenge of playing best-of-five for people after not having much preparation in terms of matches. How are you holding up for that? Not many retirements or walkovers. But how are you holding up physically? How do you think everyone is doing with this challenge?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, to be honest, I'm surprised by the guys. I know there are many five-set matches. Of course, I don't know how they feel after, if they feel better than before or not. But I think there are great tennis matches, actually. Great quality five-set matches, everybody fighting to the end.

Fortunately, I was able to close all my matches in three, which helps a lot, you know, in the long term of the tournament. So I'm happy about it. That's why physically I'm quite good (smiling).

Q. Talk about each of your possible next two opponents: de Minaur and Thiem, what each of them presents. Also if you're feeling physically you'll be good to go for the rest of this tournament if you have to play five even?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, physically I feel good. I think I'm able, especially the more matches you play, the more it helps to get into it, to get back to feeling it. So I think I'm 100% ready.

Thiem and de Minaur I think kind of different type of players. Thiem, very aggressive, tries to take everything with his forehand, goes for it, doesn't ask questions. De Minaur can play, can play close to the line and go defensive. As we know, he's one of the fastest players on tour.

So as I say, I need to see who wins to discuss with my coach, Well, okay, what do we do for the next match?

Q. Questions about Dominic in case he's the one you face. Curious what you felt about your three previous matches with him. First two didn't go your way. You took it to him on the hard courts last year. Maybe you can talk a little bit about what it's like facing the heaviness of his forehand. That's something that a lot of players have difficulty facing.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, Dominic is a tough opponent to play, especially of course on clay. I got to feel it last year in the final of Barcelona.

On hard I think it's a little bit easier, but in a way. When I say "easier," he just made final of Australian Open. For me it will be easier for me to play him on hard courts than clay courts.

Yeah, I mean, he tries to turn around with a forehand and just to go for it. I think there is not much you can do than just to try to actually face it and see what you can do with it. Yeah, you can only do it during the match.

Q. When you're having this kind of success on your serve, is there something in particular that's working well for you? Do you sort of have a feeling like you're almost invincible when you're serving and that frees you up even more for your return games?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, of course, I mean, serve is so important in tennis. When you serve like I did today, it helps a lot. You just know that like this you can focus more on your return games without having to face, well, a breakpoint during all the match.

Yeah, I was really happy with my serve when it went in. The percentage can always be higher. I think it was like 59%. I think we say usually very good percentage is like 70%, but it was enough today. I was really happy when it went in, it was going in the corners. I mean, it's just a feeling. Sometimes you have it; sometimes you don't.

Q. About today's match, what satisfied you the most? What were you most pleased with? And if you had to make any adjustments, what part of your game would you feel you needed to adjust?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Actually, I'm satisfied with everything today. I think it was a really high quality match.

I started, as I always do, trying to see what he does, a little bit defensively. Then during the match I felt like I needed to change it because he was actually better than me in defense today, and he was controlling the pace of the rally when we were playing slow.

I needed to put it up, and it worked a lot. I was making a lot of winners I saw after the match, which I think is amazing when we play with Rublev. That I had more winners than him, it's something unbelievable for me. But it shows that I was able to really adjust my game during the match and do it in a right way.

Q. Just also looking ahead, I know you have touched on this a while ago, I know he's not the favorite for the match, but let's say Alex gets through and you're playing him. Being an Australian, we need to know. What specifics do you need to do if you're playing de Minaur, obviously we all know how fast he is on the court?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, as you say, we don't know the results of the match. They both can win, no doubt about it. When you're a tennis player, you never say he's going to win for sure. You just wait for the result of the match.

I mean, yeah, he's really fast. So, anyway, no matter how fast he is, you need to put the ball either through him or make him miss. That's how you win a tennis point. There is no other way.

What can I say? I'm just going to try to play good and to make some winners and to make him miss. I cannot say anything else.

Q. Just going back to your serve a little bit. You have served well for quite a while. I remember the Tokyo match against Kei. The commentators today were talking about your toss a little bit and how maybe you don't give your toss away as much. Is it true you have worked on your toss? If so, how important is that?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Actually, we didn't work it like precisely the toss. But that's something that when I was a junior, I was tossing too much in front and too low for my size.

So of course every time we work on my serve with my coach, every serve you do, he tries to adjust, you know, like maybe this one push more with the legs, this one toss higher. That's how in practice it makes you better.

Of course during the match I don't think at all about the toss. I just think, Okay, where I serve, and I just go for it. It's more during practice. And, as I say, not specifically the toss, but everything together.

Q. Just going off of that, when you're serving, is your goal to give yourself a better position in the point? How does the serve play a role in your game, do you think?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No, for me, the best way is to hit an ace, but of course you will not do it all the time. Yeah, it's really important, if you don't make an ace, to give yourself position to be in hold of the point. That's what serve stays for. And even second serve you don't want to be under pressure all the time.

That's, for example, the toughest challenge against guys like Roger and Novak, because no matter how you serve your second serve they are going to pressure you. You feel tough about it. So that's what everybody is trying to do, you know. I try to get advantage with the serve.

Q. With nobody to boo you and nobody to cheer you on, is it more or less difficult to play in these conditions without spectators?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think it's just different. It's not that it's easier or more difficult, but for sure it's always disappointing for us tennis players to play without the fans. Actually now we can feel it even more when we have the chance to feel it.

I said it many times, I'm really disappointed that there is no crowd in New York this year because I hope I would get some laughs starting from the first day.

Q. I want to ask you about heading into the last few days of the Grand Slam tournament, if your mindset is any different this year than a year ago going into the semifinals? Now you at least experienced a semifinal and a final here.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: To be honest, not at all, because my mindset is always I'm getting prepared to the match, and I want to win it. That's the most important. You prepare for the match, you want to win it, and then you see how it goes.

Of course experience plays a big role. The fact that I was already one time in US Open semifinal helps a lot. Same court, same conditions, no crowd. And I think it will help me a little bit, yeah.

Q. Is it true that the only thing you're jealous of Rublev are his haircut?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Me? Not at all. I like my hair (smiling).

But he has good hair. That's all I can say. But, yeah, everybody is different. I'm happy with mine, too. But he has a good haircut, yeah.