NITTO ATP FINALS

November 20, 2020

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

D. MEDVEDEV/D. Schwartzman

6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Three wins. There is a generational sort of contrast. Two young players against two old players. The two younger won in the round robin. Does it mean anything?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No, to be honest. I just watched actually Novak's match against Sascha today, and when Sascha won the title, I didn't even remember this, he lost to Novak in round robin and won in the final.

So can always turn. Can be two wins for one guy. Can be one and one. So I don't think it matters much before the semis.

They are great champions of our sport. We try to beat them every time we play them. Let's see what happens tomorrow.

Q. Your thoughts going into the semifinal, and obviously it's a complete turnaround from last year, but your thoughts going into playing Rafa in the semis.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, as I always say, I enjoy playing Rafa, Novak, and Roger. They are idols of me growing up when I first started to be interested in tennis. Basically when I started playing it, Roger was already there I think winning almost everything. Then Rafa came to make his marks, and then Novak came to try to disturb them all the time (smiling).

So always great to play against them. Really looking forward to the match. Feeling confident. I think Rafa is also. Played a great match yesterday.

I need to show my best tennis to have the opportunity to win.

Q. You have kind of mentioned the match against Rafa here last year a couple of times. How much will you think about that kind of in the buildup to tomorrow's match or not at all?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Oh, to be honest, not at all, just in terms of tactics for sure maybe a little bit, remember something from last year, because actually I was close to winning it, but a new match is a new match. It's one year already.

So even though we all know who is Rafa, everybody changes. So I'm sure he changed few small things in his game. I changed mine.

So new match is never the same. You know, even you can play him -- as we say, in round robin you can play, you can win, and then you can lose in the final, something like this.

I'm just looking for tomorrow and not thinking at all about last year, as I say, except some tactical points of view.

Q. Do you feel as though you're playing the best tennis of your career right now? Some people out there are making you a favorite to win this tournament. Does that surprise you?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Oh, I mean, when it's four people left, first of all, even if you give yourself really small chance, it's 25%. It's one out of four.

Yeah, I was playing great in Paris, playing great here, so I can see why people can think like this. It's never easy to predict anything in tennis. We know this. Anybody can win the tournament. Anybody can win the title.

Actually, four first seeds came out through the groups to play tomorrow, which is amazing, I know, four best players in the world at this moment. We talk about rankings, of course.

Talking about my game, well, I definitely was playing good last year also when I made six finals, so tough for me to compare, but I definitely am playing good right now. I'm enjoying this moment, and hopefully I can continue it till Sunday, let's call it Monday.

Q. I want to know, what do you think of the season Schwartzman have and how he has improved in last months to be top 10 and to play ATP Finals.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, Diego had an amazing season. Of course we know that clay is his favorite surface, and this year he -- actually, we didn't have so many clay tournaments, and he delivered on them, a final of a Masters, semifinal of a Grand Slam. That's why he qualified here of course.

But we know he's capable of playing on all the surfaces, also. Can make great wins. So, yeah, really happy for him, for his season, honestly. He's a great guy, and happy to see him here.

0-3 in your first Masters doesn't mean anything. I can say it with my experience that I had last year, so hopefully he can qualify for the next one.