ROLEX PARIS MASTERS

November 7, 2021

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

N. DJOKOVIC/D. Medvedev

4-6, 6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Congratulations for yet another amazing match. I wanted to ask you your frustration with the reactions of the crowd, because has obviously been quite significant. Do you suggest something can or should be done more frequently in order for the audience to annoy the players less in some crucial moments?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I don't really have an answer, because I see it in two ways. Either it should be in a way like some other sports -- I don't know if there are any other sports like tennis where it's so much about concentration, where it's kind of prohibited, let's say, to talk during points and to kind of be -- I think in snooker they are usually silent, like you won't hear anybody just before the shots scream anything.

Basically, yeah, what happened is at 4-2, advantage Novak, or 30-40, just before I hit the serve, so you cannot really stop the motion, somebody scream something. I actually did make the serve, the return came back very fast. It's not that only this that makes you miss the shot. I'm not going to be here saying I lost the point because of this, but it distracts you.

So, yeah, I got mad because crucial, crucial moment, 5-2 for him, double break, even if I manage to get the break back, we all know that against Novak it's tough to actually come back from this score.

I got mad, yeah, because it was not nice, and it was done on purpose. Some of the spectators, they were just into the match and you could feel it. You're getting ready for serve, they were like, Allez, Novak, or Allez, Daniil. But you could feel it was like they are just trying not to be in the game, and you wait.

This one was done, when I did the toss already, it was done by Serbian spectator. All I said about him on the changeover, I mean it and I can say it one more time, and I hope he doesn't watch tennis anymore.

Q. Well done for the whole year.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Thank you.

Q. I'd like to know, what is your reaction to the fact that for the seventh year Djokovic is No. 1 at the end of the year? But still many people, for some reason, don't consider him a real No. 1, like Federer is always a legend and Nadal is always... Okay, they all won 20 slams. But in a way, I have the feeling that Djokovic is not considered as much as he should. What do you think about it? Is what I read on the papers, on the players, and so on.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I know what you mean. I think this is unfair, because it's tough for me to talk to other people, but I see what you mean because I feel it sometimes. I also have the feeling though that people start more and more to, let's say, I don't even say respect him, respect what he has done in tennis more and more, because, well, he continues to beat the records.

Only this year he beat the records for being No. 1 for many weeks, 310 it was, and now it's much more. He got to 20 slams, almost done a calendar slam.

I feel like unless real haters, which are not real fans, people start to see what he's done and to see that he's able to do more, which we can never know, that's why we like tennis, but which he can do more.

And I think, yeah, that maybe it's also sometimes, ten years after he retire, because there is gonna be starting to be people who will start watching tennis -- just like me, I didn't see Sampras play, I was too young but I heard he was amazing -- it's going to be the same. There are going to be new people coming to tennis who are just going to read in Wikipedia or whatever what were the results, who was the World No. 1 for most weeks, for most times in the end, and they are going to see Novak everywhere. That's when people are going to start to understand, Okay, that's amazing what he has done.

Q. Are you afraid that could happen to you too?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I'm not afraid. I always say I will try my best. I don't like to talk about myself like, yes, my goal is to win 21 Grand Slams, 38 Masters, and to be No. 1 for 352 weeks or whatever. I like to do my best. That's what I have done this week. That's what I will try to do in Turin, Davis Cup, every tournament I play. Like this, at the end of my career I can also see, okay, what has Daniil Medvedev achieved? Just going to enjoy it.

Q. Congratulations on another great tournament. Novak talked a bit about the importance of his family and having them around. I know you have talked about this before. Could you tell us about the role your wife plays during the tournament and how much it matters to have her in the stadium.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, she helps me a lot. I think when we talk about the family, it's all about the culture. So many countries I feel it's about the country. Some countries' wives or family doesn't travel with players, with tennis players; some do.

In Russia and Serbia actually I feel like it's quite a common thing, especially until you have babies where it maybe gets different, that wife supports a man and travels with him if she needs to all over the world.

That's the case with my wife. I feel she supports me. She knows I support her in many ways. So we enjoy being with each other, we enjoy living with each other, we love each other, and that helps me on the tennis court. It's as easy as that. She will not teach me to play forehand or backhand but she's going to give me some mental strength and mental stability to be a better tennis player.

Q. Can you maybe pinpoint what happened in the fourth game of the second set? Things were going -- well, I'm not saying it was one-way traffic by any means, but things were flowing in your direction, and then you lost serve in the fourth game of the second set. What changed, what turned things?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Probably going to need some time to maybe think a little bit more about the match, because just went off the court, so a little bit tough.

But to be honest, I didn't see any real turning point in the match. When I say "turning point" in the game, unless as you say in the score, yeah, that was the game I think I had 40-15, he played good. He played good the whole match. I had small opportunities to come back, especially in the second set. I mean, I could have hold serve few times in the third to maybe be at 5-4 and him serving and who knows what happens.

So there are definitely things I could have done better in terms of winning some points, some crucial points. But I feel like there is not much to talk about tennis, tennis-wise, unless it was a really great match with a lot of good points where he was a little bit better, maybe did few winners more, few volley winners were good ones, and he was better in crucial points today. That made the big difference. Where I was actually better at usual crucial points in the first set and that's why I won it, and that's what I didn't manage to do in the second and third.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. Congrats for your week and this wonderful match. How do you feel after this defeat, after this wonderful match? What was the deciding point?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I don't like to lose. I will not say that I'm happy. But I can feel that I gave it my all.

I could have done one winner at some breakpoints, I could have made an added ace at 15-40. Every time you lose a match, you always have feelings where you feel that you could do a little bit better.

But I gave everything I had. I was playing one of the best players in history, and you could feel that he really, really wanted to win. It was a huge battle.

The surface, the conditions will always be different. It may change sometimes tactically speaking and it may actually affect the outcome of the match. I felt him strong and it was not easy for me. He was better at crucial moments. I was stronger than him during the first set. I had a breakpoint. And I won where I had breakpoints.

During second set there was one point where there was a breakpoint and I didn't hold and during the third set the same thing happened. He outplayed me at the crucial moments. This is what I didn't manage to do.

Q. How do you see Novak Djokovic after this awful defeat? We could have thought that he would be more shaken, that it could have some psychological bearing on him.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: It's impossible to have any upper hand psychologically speaking on him. But this could be the case for me as well. If we take for instance the last weeks, I lost against Grigor, Rublev, and Novak. So the next time that I will play these three opponents this question shouldn't be raised. Will Daniil be affected psychologically? No.

When I play Novak, I knew that he would try to take his revenge even if the match is not the same. What was at stake was not the same. Of course I'm not talking about the prize money here. I could feel he really wanted to win no matter what, and this is what competition is all about.

When you play an exhibition match, for instance, unless you're told before that it's just for the show, if there is any reward at the end, even if it's only for winning, I can tell you that among 100 players, 95 of them, they will suffer and give it their all to make sure that they win. This is tennis. This is what it means when you are a competitive player. It's the same when I play PlayStation. I want to win as if I were on a tennis court.

Q. This week we could see the influence of the crowd. Was it upsetting you? Was it enjoyable? Do you have to learn again to play tennis in front of the crowd?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: It was wonderful. The good thing was that little by little we started to have limited capacity for the US Open, for instance. At New York it was electric, so it was not easy to manage.

During the first rounds, when you play all year round without any public, of course it can surprise you, because there is always someone speaking and you can feel the presence of the crowd. During the first matches, you're a bit lost and you need to re-accustom yourself.

I don't want to be used to playing without any public again. It was wonderful, very positive. I think that we all love it and we'll see how it goes for the next tournament.