NATIONAL BANK OPEN

August 10, 2021

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

D. MEDVEDEV/A. Bublik

4-6, 6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. If Tokyo was a 10 on the heat and humidity and conditions, what would you put Toronto at today?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Toronto was really hot yesterday. I think I'd put it on 9 or maybe 8. But today, today with the conditions were on 5. It was quite humid, so the hands got sweaty. Yeah, the sweat, it's always tougher to play when you sweat than you're not.

So maybe the humidity was, let's say, even at 9 or 10, but the heat was not there. It was not that easy to compete physically.

Q. Without getting an even bigger fine than you might already have gotten, can you go through the hindrance issue that happened on the court? It was pretty crazy.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, of course. Well, first of all, it was funny. First of all, that's a good thing. It was fun. If it would be a breakpoint it would be less fun, I'm telling you. (Laughter.)

For me, the thing is that either they should change the name of the rule, because "hindrance," I looked at it on Google Translate, because I was not sure what it means. I thought it meant disturbance, like to disturb somebody. I was right. You can ask Bublik if I disturbed him by saying "Sorry." He will say no.

I had the smash, which I would never miss in my life. I actually put it away. Even if he jumped like (indiscernible), he couldn't get the ball. So again, there was no hindrance. There was no disturbance.

Yeah, it's about the rules. Same about the rule where if the rain stopped the match for one hour or 45 minutes, why do I still have no toilet breaks left? It's a new match. I mean, there are some rules that should maybe considered to, I don't know, to be more precise or whatever. Because again, there was no hindrance. So, yeah, that's all I have to say.

Q. Did you hear her say that she told you the rule but you guys could work it out amongst yourselves? In other words, if you wanted to replay the point or give you the point, that was okay with her? She did say that.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, Bublik wanted to replay the point. I had said, Well, I'm not going to go against the referee. I don't want to make a mess. For me, it was my point. Okay, the referee said like this, so I'm not going to try to do anything else.

Q. Great turnaround today. At the end of the first set, looked like you were getting upset a little bit. With your coach, you were doing this motion, looked like your forehand was flying a bit on you. Was that a technical change, a swing change you guys have been working on, or something to do with your racquet? What seemed to be the issue?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I was not feeling it. I was super, let's say, disappointed and angry with myself because I had the opportunities. I was really fighting.

No, I know how tournaments can go. You can feel bad during the tournament, but for this you need to win the first match. I think first set, again, I had my opportunities but I was not feeling anything I did on the court.

So, yeah, when I talked to my coach or whoever in my box, I'm not happy with myself, not them. I'm happy I managed to turn around my game after the rain. I didn't do anything specific, but just starting to feeling the ball better. Yeah, I had more opportunities to win the match.

Q. Back in my Miami you were like the No. 1 seed and kind of the favorite for that Masters. Obviously you didn't come away with the win there, as you have in previous ones. Did the pressure being the No. 1 seed play into the match at all today again, like, you now are the No. 1 seed, and especially with Rafa going out -- I guess you didn't know that at that time -- is that more pressure for you to win this first round and get through and get momentum here?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No, not at all, to be honest. When I just came on the tour, when you play your first Grand Slam or, I don't know, first quarterfinal of a slam, first Masters final, you feel tight. It's not an easy feeling, but sometimes it actually helps you to play good.

I don't have it anymore. I know how to win Masters. Okay, just need to play good. Need to fight, need to run well, hit some big forehands or whatever.

So when I get out there on the court, no matter first seed, third seed, fourth seed, I just try to win. If you're in top 16 seed, you're gonna play the guy outside of top 20, let's say. So doesn't matter if you're No. 1 or No. 16. You just need to prepare the match. That's what I'm trying to do.

I have zero pressure being the No. 1 seed. I actually feel it's an honor, I would say, because means that you're high in the rankings, playing great tennis, have a lot of points. So, yeah, it's an honor for me to be No. 1 seed in Masters for the second time, but no pressure at all.

Q. Your Olympics campaign didn't end on the best note. It was a bit disappointing for you to go out in that fashion. How did you manage to regroup in that time? What do you do to get yourself back in the right frame of mind to compete again in the highest level? Today you looked pretty good, after the rain break, looked like you are back to your best. What went through your mind these last couple of weeks?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, definitely Olympics was a tough shot, I would say, to be completely honest. When Novak lost, I saw all over social media what he said and he said, especially when he lost after the third place, he said that all his Olympics defeats were very tough, but then he came back only stronger and he knew that that would make him stronger.

I was, like, I was really disappointed with the way Olympics ended for me. Obviously if the guy who is probably the greatest tennis player of all time, 20 slams, 37 Masters or whatever, says this, well, I have to, you know, kind of follow what he does, and I knew that I will be coming here, trying to disconnect a little bit, went to Orlando, no really strict rules there before coming here. Tried to disconnect from, yeah, from the loss, and now in a way I don't remember it.

Of course I wanted to do better, but now the goal is to try to win this tournament, to try to win Cincinnati, to try to win US Open. That's how tennis is. You're going to have 20 tournaments in a year. You can win what, maybe five, six, seven if you have the best year of your life. So you're not going to win every tournament. You just need to show your best and play your best.

Q. I was wondering, how often are you able to turn that anger you mentioned into something positive, into a positive direction and let it drive you to another level?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Not always, unfortunately, because it would be amazing if every time I'm angry on the court I could just turn it into winning the match or whatever.

But as you say, you know, that's what tennis is about, the moments you can do it. When I came back after the rain, I still was angry with myself actually. I had a breakpoint in the first game when I came back, and I didn't make it. I was, like, Really, again?

But I prepared myself a little bit to that. Even if I'm angry, as you say, I need to try to do better. I need to, like, kind of fight on the court. Like if I have to fall for the ball that is far, I'm going to fall for it. I never do it, but like literally speaking.

That's what I think helped me. That's what I need to try to do all the time. And then anger issues are not easy to deal with.

Q. Do you think if working on this might be part of the formula for future success?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I'm working on it. I think I have progressed big time since I started working with someone on my mental strengths. Actually, my results only were going up and up. You never know which part: is it physical, is it tennis, is it mental.

But, yeah, I have a good team around me. I'm working on it. Very far from perfect in my mental strengths, but I think I am also 50 times ahead of what I have been even few years ago. So that's the main goal: to improve, improve, and improve.

Yeah, we see it even in the biggest champions in sport. That's how sport is. We have anger. We have sometimes you are even angry with yourself afterwards because you say maybe I lost the match because of this. But that's part of the sport also.

Q. On the hindrance thing, you said that this isn't going to be on tennis TV, and you are having these moments lately a lot more frequently, as I have observed. Do you like being in the middle of things, like being amped? Do you see yourself in that way, in social media, or, I don't know, what's your comment on that?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I need to be completely honest: I don't care about hype at all. Since I came on tour, I think when I made it to the top 100, I was probably No. 4 or 5 in my age, was quite big. I can tell you all the other guys was getting the hype. I was not, but I didn't care. I wanted to be better. I wanted to just play good tennis.

Of course you're going to get the hype if you play good, if you make finals of slams, win Masters, you're going to have followers, you're going to have more attention on yourself.

Me, the first thing is to just play good tennis, to win titles. That's the first thing on my mind. Of course to enjoy the moments with the fans is always a pleasure, even if -- again, the biggest example is US Open. Even if I was not easy with the crowd at first, it turned out into a great story and was super fun. I like things that are fun to live.

Many times, unless I really want to send pictures to anyone if I will be in some place I really dreamed of being, I'm not going to actually take pictures. I'm just going to leave it for myself, because I don't care to put it on social or to show it ten years later to somebody, Look where I have been. I want to just live it and then tell that I have been there. So, yeah, I don't care about hype again.