AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 24, 2022

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

D. MEDVEDEV/M. Cressy

6-2, 7-6, 6-7, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: How difficult was it to get used to Maxime's style today?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Well, it was a difficult match, like, to get used to his style. I knew he's gonna serve and volley, so it's not really -- I feel like I didn't really get used to it because first set was better than other three. Yeah, he definitely played a good match and could go either way. Two tiebreaks, last set was really close and tough match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Well played today. He said before the match that he wanted to be disruptive out there. Did you feel disrupted? If you don't mind my asking, what did you say to him at the net?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: What means this word?

THE MODERATOR: Upset your rhythm.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, well, he definitely did. I feel like he volleyed very good today. Like I think if we take all the match, maybe like easy volley misses that maybe he should have put in, had, what, two, three, especially if we don't take the first set, I remember, to be honest only one, the one at 5-All, the easy one. Maybe I missed some, but he definitely did a good job with everything that he did.

I told him -- I'm going to keep it for myself but, yeah, it was something between us, I think it was pretty nice (smiling).

Q. I have to ask you about when you said quite loudly that, This is boring. What was going through your mind then?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I was quite mad today because of few things. To be honest, I'm working on myself, and that's why I managed to win and still kept my composure, as much as I could, because sometimes I go much more crazier than I did today.

It's because, I don't know, I just felt a little bit not perfect today for few reasons. First of all is where I really don't know, like, what should I do to play on center courts in Grand Slams, because I won the last Grand Slam. I mean, I'm highest seed here, and to play against Maxime would be easier on Rod Laver, more space. When you play on a smaller court it's tougher to play somebody who does serve and volley than on a bigger court. It's like same in Wimbledon, I haven't even played on Centre, because I don't count the fifth set which I played after the rain, after being put on Court 2.

And then what happened after the first set is the new rules -- which I really like about the toilet break, if you go just to the toilet three minutes, if you change five minutes. I really like it, at least it's some timing where you know how much is it.

The thing is that I know that in the 35 heat, when you're playing in the sun, I'm gonna want to change after two sets because you're gonna get wet, I'm gonna want to change my shorts, underneath my shorts, my socks, my shoes. You need like good four minutes to do it, and my body wanted to pee after the first set.

So I don't see any logic in these rules, so hence I can call this stupid, that I cannot -- so the rule is that if you use all your toilet breaks, you can go still pee in the one minute that they have for the change of ends or whatever. So I asked the referee and the supervisor, Can I now run to pee in the 1:30 that I have between the sets to then be able to change and still have one change left if there is a fifth set, because I will need to change again, it's freaking 35 degrees.

No, it has to count. Yeah, but I want to do it in 1:30 that I have to change and just don't count it. I'm going to change after and it's gonna count.

Yeah, that's nonsense, so I got, as you can see, pretty mad about it and I think what happened afterwards was a consequence.

I'm really sorry to Maxime about it.

Q. It wasn't really boring, you were just annoyed.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No, I was annoyed with the day, let's call it like this.

Q. So what sort of things are you doing to try and keep your composure and make sure it doesn't spiral out of control?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Think about tennis is the most important, think about how to win the match. And that's again, I'm not really happy about my, let's call it, mentality today, because again, it was, I mean, I was a little bit harsh with Maxime who played a really good match few moments. At the same time, I'm not the only player to do it, to try to get into my opponent's head.

And also, I mean, this can put me off my game, which straightaway when I was screaming something or talking about something or not happy with anything, I was trying to completely refocus straightaway and try to not think about this when I'm playing. I managed to do it pretty well because before every point I was finally ready to fight, to run, and to think, okay, what do I do to win the next point. And that was the most important.

Q. Have you talked to anyone in the tournament about your court assignments and schedule? Because I was surprised too to see you on Margaret Court two rounds in a row.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I usually don't do it, because I don't want to put pressure or anything on anybody. I rarely ask for the time or the court unless somebody comes to me and says, where you want to play and when? Then I'm like, okay, this time on this court. But in Grand Slams it for sure doesn't always work like this. You can always ask but I usually don't do it. I asked probably one of the first times here for this tournament one time and I got it.

So I don't know. Maybe I have to ask every time. But I don't really want to be the guy who asks every time, Put me on Rod Laver or I'm gonna be unhappy.

Q. I think you said on Eurosport after the match that you had said some things to try and disrupt Cressy, and then you said you regretted doing that. Just wondering sort of trash talking is accepted in other sports but it isn't so much in tennis. Why do you think that's the case?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Well, I mean, if we, like, look in details what I was saying, I was really trying not to say anything about Maxime itself. I was talking about luck. Well, he really did hit the lines on the second serves in the match, I was really annoyed by this. But again, really even what I was saying during the match, I was not talking about him. Was more talking about, yeah, luck. One time I screamed that it's luck is there when I hit the tape, and before he was hitting the lines on the breakpoints, I hit the tape and the ball doesn't go over, I'm like, What's wrong?

So, yeah, I don't like trash talking. I sometimes can unfortunately roll into this, but I don't like it. I think I try almost never to do it, especially against other players, and again, today was borderline. I don't think I actually said anything bad about Maxime, but, yeah, borderline where I'm not really happy about it.

Q. Maxime is a very confident and ambitious guy. He thinks his game can take him to the top 10 and maybe even No. 1. Do you think that's realistic?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: The way he played today, completely. I mean, of course it's a bit tougher for him on the return than on serve. So, I mean, we know these guys, he's gonna have to win a lot of tiebreaks to get the titles and everything.

But I was in great shape today. I was playing great. He took me to a big fight. So it means that he can take anybody to the same fight, I think.

Q. Does he get better value for what he does because nobody else does it?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Tough to answer, because again, I want to say what he does is really good, especially, I mean, volleys, after the serve he's really covering good the court, because I almost never got a return winner, and, yeah, he's really good at covering the court.

But again, I mean, depends because I think I could serve and volley and maybe win some matches, maybe less than I'm doing when I'm not doing it. It's like you decide your style of game, so I don't want to, you know, jump into nobody's doing it so he should get credits because he's doing it.

He's doing what is better for his game. I think he would play worse if he would serve and stay baseline. So he's trying to reach his highest potential, and that's smart. That's good for him, and again, yeah, he does it really good.

Q. Next up, Felix in the quarterfinals. What are your thoughts going into that match?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Tough matchup. I mean, we played, last three times, last two times and this one will be the third time, we played with Felix was semifinal US Open, semifinal ATP Cup, and now quarters of Australian Open. Means that we are doing pretty good job, I think, in our careers. You know, it's later stages of the biggest tournaments in the world.

Last two I managed to, you know, to have the edge on him, but he's a phenomenal player, so I will need to be at my best to try to win and to bring him hard time.