MUTUA MADRID OPEN

May 1, 2023

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

D. MEDVEDEV/A. Shevchenko

4-6, 6-1, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Well done, Daniil. You know Alexander very well. How impressed were you by his performance today?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: He played good. I mean, I know that he plays probably also better on clay, but I think he can play very well on hard courts. I play a little bit worse on clay, so that's why the match was very tight. He had all the opportunities to win it.

Since it's clay, I feel like -- if on hard courts you have two times the break up in the third, you should be disappointed. On clay it's like, well, whatever, the serve doesn't count as much, so we just continue playing and that's what I did.

Crazy match, really exhausted in the end. Happy that I managed to find the way to win it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You answered it a bit, but when you were down a break in the third set twice, just what was going through your head? Also, what you just said, when you lose your serve, in the heat of battle, are you able to be like less disappointed and frustrated on clay compared with hard?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I don't know. I'm always disappointed to lose my serve, but yeah, on hard, depending also the way the match is going, sometimes you know that it's going to be much tougher to get his serve back. So you could be even more disappointed.

But in general, it stays the same. On hard court or clay court, well, if you're down a break, you have to try to break the guy. Just on clay you know that, well, it's easier to return the ball in play. Sometimes bad bounce, you do some lob, frame, with another bad bounce, the guy misses.

I mean, yeah, that's how clay is for me, and that's how clay is for, in a way, everyone. Breakpoint, it can be a bad bounce for anyone and you win the point just because of this. Hopefully it's for you (smiling).

Managed to stay solid today, I would even say throughout almost the whole match, because first set could lose it 6-1, managed to bring it to 5-4. Should have actually played a little bit better the game at 5-4 to put more pressure on him, but managed to put this pressure later in the match and it worked.

Q. Do you think Alexander is better at FIFA or at tennis? How do you imagine his future on tour?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I don't think he's good at FIFA, but he's very good in shooting games, probably one of the best tennis players. I think Call of Duty is his game.

I think Nick is very good, Kyrgios. I think they should play together, because I heard that Alex is one of the best because he played all his childhood (smiling). But still, I don't think he's top 100 in Call of Duty in the world. Definitely better in tennis.

He's going to go up, even after this tournament, he's going to probably be maybe 75 or something, and he has the potential to be even higher, especially if he plays like this.

Q. How do you feel about today's crowd's behavior? Like yesterday, Holger Rune had some moments. Today you had. How do you feel about that?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Was fine. You know, I hit the racquet a little bit after the first set. I was disappointed with some mistakes. So they started booing. I was, like, yeah, come on, let's do it more.

But then when you play a good point you also can put them on your side. I actually watched Holger yesterday without the sound, so I thought that something is happening, but I watched it without the sound. My daughter was sleeping behind the door.

So I heard that something happened. I didn't see it. I mean, again, it's all about did you deserve it or not? I don't think Holger did anything yesterday, you know. So, yeah, that's disappointing.

And, yeah, again, sometimes you deserve it, sometimes not. Probably, you know, I hit the racquet a little bit, so maybe I deserve it. One time I took a challenge, they started booing. What, you don't want me to take a challenge?

I feel like also sometimes the crowd right now in tennis, for whatever reason, I don't know, maybe it was like this before also, comes for this excitement. So as soon as something is happening, they don't even know what's happening, they just boo you. Yeah, I experienced this quite a bit. Novak experienced it. I mean, a lot of players.

I think it's just part of tennis right now.

Q. So many ups and downs in the game. How was the mental battle in this moment?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Mentally was a tough match, because yeah, so many tough moments. I lose my serve when I went 40-Love up. I saved the next game being Love-40 down. That was funny. He started cramping. I don't know when he started cramping, but he showed it at 5-All.

Like 20 minutes I was already cramping. Just I didn't show it. I was like, okay, he just came to the tour. He shouldn't show it to your opponent, because that's like when I'm gonna go even harder mentally and physically.

Yeah, so mentally was -- I mean, when you win 7-5 in the third, it's always mentally a brutal match, so I'm happy that I managed to win it.

Q. We saw the future today. You are the present of Russian tennis. Madrid suits your game, it's clay, with the altitude. With your talent you can win wherever you want?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Hopefully, hopefully. I don't have the title on clay yet. I really want to make it. But I'm also trying to play only the best tournaments, so it's tougher because all the best tennis players in the world.

I know that clay doesn't suit my game perfectly. Even today I felt like I did a great match, but usually on hard courts when I do a match like this, the score could be easier, especially when I'm in shape.

Here I had to struggle. I had to struggle. It was tough. But I want to try to just do my best. Monte-Carlo was great. Here is great already, and I'm looking forward for next matches.

Q. Now Madrid and a lot of other Masters events are two weeks. How do you feel about this after the first week? Also, on PlayStation, when you're online, do you actually like talk with opponents? I know there is a lot of trash talk and stuff.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No, I don't do trash talk. The only thing, if someone, you know, sometimes I play shooting games, so sometimes when you don't kill anyone in the back, some of the guys go crazy. You're like, Relax, man. It's just a computer game. Everything is good. Usually it actually comes to a good point unless the guy is crazy and he just trash-talks you, and, well, I just mute him or whatever.

Also usually I play with my friends. You cannot actually hear the opponents. You can only talk to your friends. Actually, few times even in my life it happened that I'm playing with someone I don't know, so we start talking and he's like, What do you do?

So I tell him, Yeah, I play tennis.

Then some of them are, like, Yeah, really?

Then if they ask, I tell them who I am and they never believe me. (Laughter.)

What was the first one? Yeah, two weeks? I think it's good, but I probably need more time and more tournaments like this to be sure. But in general, I feel like everyone loves Indian Wells, Miami. It gives more opportunities for more players, because yeah, just more places in the draw.

Actually, if you are top 8, top 16, it's a disadvantage for you, because before Madrid, you win one, two matches, you're in the quarters, like Monte-Carlo, a lot of points. But I think it's more fair when the draw is that big we are going to see more ranking changes, more people coming in from quallies later stages. So in general I think it's good, even if disadvantages the top players.

Q. I wonder if you had a chance to watch in Mirra Andreeva play tennis? She was very impressed to see you in real life in the players lounge.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Oh, yeah (smiling)?

Q. She was only 15 at the beginning of the tournament, winning against top 20. When you think back about yourself at 15, are you impressed by what she's...

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Me, at 15, I was probably not even 300, top juniors. Yeah, definitely impressive.

I saw I think when she -- she had a wildcard, but when she won the first match, I didn't know her before, I actually knew her sister a little bit by the name, and I saw that she's like 160 in the world, 15 years old.

I said to my coach, Wow, look. She beat Leylah Fernandez straightaway, finalist of a slam. Then I think now she's the youngest to be in that stage of a Masters 1000.

Yeah, what an amazing result. I saw her few times, said hi, I don't know. So we don't know each other that much. I actually didn't see her play, but I'm super impressed with the results. I just hope that she continues to play that way, because then there is no limit.