US OPEN

September 1, 2022

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

D. MEDVEDEV/A. Rinderknech

6-2, 7-5, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Your thoughts on the match.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I was actually not super happy with my level. At the same time it's sometimes really tough to play at night. All the day waiting. I usually like it, but a little bit in the beginning can be a little bit tricky.

I think it was much tougher for him. I'm pretty experienced with that, had these nights already a couple times. For him maybe it was the first one or second one. He definitely didn't start the match very good.

But, yeah, in general I'm happy with my level in the third set, so that's great. At the end of the match it was getting better and better. At the same time a win is the most important, three sets. Try to get out as early as possible even if it is pretty late. Looking forward for next round.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You said on court you were watching Serena. How much has this felt like Serena's tournament?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: It's completely her tournament, in my opinion. That's great. We have Rafa playing here with 22 slams, and at this moment it feels like, I mean, it's not the attention all to him, which I think it's great for him that he plays the other nights. Like this, he gets all the attention on the other days.

But, yeah, watched the match. She played pretty amazing. The third set I watched a little bit less because I was going to warmup. Also after the second set that she lost, never know how the third is going to go.

Straightaway she was there, playing great tennis. Really happy for her. Hoping to see what she can do at the end.

Q. (No microphone.)

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Probably not because the thing is if she would finish in Australia or Paris, it would be amazing, but it would not be the same. Here it's New York, it's Serena, icon, queen. I think you can say like 35 words in 10 seconds you can find amazing words to describe her. This makes it even more special.

It's funny because the first match I watched on the TV because I was in my room, second match I was here, but you're inside the stadium so you don't hear what's going on. When I went out to warmup, warming up outside, straightaway we were like, Wow, what's happening there?

Every point you know what's happening. If it's silent, point is to the other girl. If it goes boom, then Serena won the point. It was easy to know the score every time. Yeah, it's just amazing. I'm not sure I saw anything like this before.

Q. Two rounds into the tournament, are you able to remember how you felt at this stage 12 months ago, how you feel now?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think I can actually. Not that easy, but I will remember. I played the first match against Richard, it was actually same. We started at 11 in the evening. It was Murray-Tsitsipas that prolonged the day session. Pretty decent match. Was feeling great.

The second one, roof was closed. Honestly I played good.

These two matches felt a little bit less good comparing to last year, but at the same time I know I already played a lot of Grand Slams. That's not the most important. The most important is to win, to stay in the tournament, to try to get as far as possible, for sure try to raise your level when the opponents go stronger and stronger. Finally you're going to play somebody who has a Grand Slam or something like this.

Q. I would like to know if you feel you're a favorite to win the tournament? Do you feel more comfortable to be with a small group of people supporting you?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, first of all, I think, look, I don't want to put pressure on anybody, but I think Rafa is a big favorite also. He won the last time he played here against me actually. He won two slams this year. I think Novak is better on grass, but Rafa didn't play. He actually didn't lose in a Grand Slam this year. He retired, which is not the same.

In my opinion Rafa is big, let's call it like this. I don't want to say favorite, big favorite. He's definitely big figure in this tournament.

Then for sure there are many other good guys. I'm happy to see my name sometimes in the odds or something like this because I'm like, That's great. That means that I play some good tennis. Being amongst the favorites just brings me more motivation to try to do well.

About the coach, I like to keep my box with just close people I work every day, almost every day, with those that I can rely on those, those that I know which energy they have. They know what I need from them in the box.

Yeah, it's not really my thing to just pack the box, make it as big as possible just for the TV. It's like this.