ROLAND GARROS

May 26, 2023

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome back to Paris. Were you able to celebrate after the big win in Rome? How confident do you feel before Roland Garros?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, honestly I'm not gonna tell exactly which days I had but I had quite a busy day, so honestly I didn't have time to celebrate at all. When I say "celebrate," like to go party or something.

But of course together with my family, with my team, we were just really happy. In a way, this happiness is a celebration, and of course I'm going to try to bring this confidence here.

But that's why tennis is sometimes good and sometimes bad, that you won the tournament but there is a new one coming, so you have to kind of forget and just try to get the confidence.

The good thing about this sometimes you can lose first round but you know that next week you can be the winner.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. So as somebody who has now won a title on a clay court...

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Still feels amazing.

Q. Well, congratulations. Do you feel going into Roland Garros now perhaps for the first time in your life that you can actually win this title?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I don't know (smiling). Because I also don't want to put too much pressure on myself, in a way. But what happened in Rome was amazing, especially beating a lot of good players, you know: Zverev, Tsitsipas, Rune, Zapata Miralles, Ruusuvuori who went three sets with Alcaraz in Madrid.

That's amazing feeling, and I'm for sure maybe have more expectation than I usually had in Roland Garros. But I know that it's also tricky and you have to kind of, you know, use this confidence, but not get cocky, if we can say, because that's where the danger is. Sometimes you think, Oh, well, I played so well, now it's going to be easy. Then the first round you have problems. You can get angry and maybe lose the match.

So I have been in this situation many times, and I just want to try to play good tennis here in Roland Garros.

Q. You were specific in Rome that when you got there you felt you were playing well immediately. And you told us. And you did. You won the tournament. How do you feel now compared to then?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Amazing (smiling).

Q. Typically, do you tend to know quite quickly whether you're in form or can it change a lot throughout a tournament?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think it can change a lot, first of all.

And many times, even, I mean, tennis is such a mental sport sometimes that you talk to your friends on tour and many times you start to have kind of, let's call it, superstitions that sometimes the better you play before the tournament, the worse it's gonna be. Sometimes the worse you play before the tournament, it happened to me also, where you can even break a racquet on practice or something, get completely crazy and you cannot put one ball in the court, and then you win it.

Then a friend after the tournament comes to you and says, Well, crying again, and winning.

So I had two practices here. I felt good. Both of them on central court. I felt good, played kind of like in Rome. It's a little bit different here. The balls are much heavier, so I'm sure it's going to be much more rallies than previous years. They felt really heavy for whatever reason.

I felt good. Maybe not as amazing as in Rome, but again, it really doesn't matter that match, and the most important is when the tournament starts.

Q. Over the years you have said you felt of the clay courts you actually prefer the ones here because you felt they're a little bit quicker. Is it the balls that are a little bit different this year or is it the surface also that maybe feels different?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I cannot say 100% if it's the balls, the surface, maybe that it's a little bit better. But from what I heard from all the players, everybody agrees that it's, let's call it slower this year, and the balls get big. Yeah, the only bad thing about this, it's because it's very tough for the shoulder and elbow. A lot of players suffered with this after Australia, from what I heard. It was the same.

So that's the only kind of bad thing, because then in tennis, well, you have to adapt. That's the thing.

But yeah, for me two days of practice I had felt much, much slower than years before, previous years. But in Rome was not that fast, and I liked it, so I'm looking forward to Roland Garros.

Q. A few weeks back you had the baptism for your lovely daughter. I wonder, how did the conversation with Andrey go about dress code? Do you think he could have done it a little bit better?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I don't remember what he wore.

Q. A T-shirt.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I think he could have done better. You know, it's very funny, because in tennis you don't have many opportunities to gather for something important like a birth, baptism, together with your tennis friends, because someone is going to be in Australia, someone is going to be back in Europe practicing for the next tournament.

That was a perfect moment because it was before the tournament, it was couple of days before, so everyone could come. Everyone was dressed for different reasons. Someone didn't dress well. Someone forgot the flowers or something. It was a lot of fun. He did great. Let's say it this way. He was very stressed. He did great. Let's not care about the dress code.

Q. I just wondered, does the locker room, the players area, does it feel different this year without Rafael Nadal in it?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think the tournament feels different, because if you talk about locker, well, locker is full before the first round. Everyone is preparing.

In this way, I kind of feel like, and everyone says it, tennis has a short memory, because you focus so much on yourself and on your tournament that you honestly don't care who is there in the locker room or not. Right now, everyone is crazy about their first rounds, when are we playing, against who, what time.

But the tournament is for sure gonna feel different, you know. Every two days before you could watch Rafa play on TV because they would show him, for sure. He would play on center court. This year it's not gonna be the same. Without him might be a new winner, who knows? With him it was a little -- or a lot less chances for this. So it's definitely different.

But again, some things like locker room or something like this, people are so focused on themselves that I don't think many people feel the difference.

Q. How much do you think your success on clay this year is mental and how much do you think it is physical changes you made in game, whether it's practicing the sliding or anything like that or was it just sort of accepting, okay, this is different, I'm gonna try this, I'm gonna be more open to it?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I don't have an answer, because I don't know. I would love to say 100% mental I changed everything. But that's not the case, you know. If I would feel on clay like the previous years, you would probably get like the lines for Tennis TV or whatever, for many more years to come.

I think the fact that I started the year so well, without talking about Australia, helped me to just be confident in myself and kind of say, okay, I don't like clay but let's try to do something big. Again, in Monte-Carlo, quarters, beating Sascha, amazing match, little bit tired with Holger, and also he's amazing player. I was like, okay, no, that's a good start.

Same in Madrid, good match against Ruusuvuori, against Shevchenko, he played unreal against me, I managed to beat him. Aslan played, the way he played, I think he would beat me in Rome. So let's go to Rome, let's try to continue this way, and I managed to just somehow play my best level on clay so far.

I wonder if it's the strings, I talk about it a lot and I do it not to promote it but I really think it could help me on clay. I said it before on hard courts that it could help me on clay and maybe did. But if not, I'm just happy and not overthinking too much. Just want to try to continue this way.

Q. Besides tennis you're also known as a big Bayern Munich fan. Do you have time to watch the game tomorrow? How is your mind considering this game?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I think I have time. I practice like at 2:00, so I think I'm going to have time at least to watch like the second halftime. But it's more about Borussia now than Bayern. Yeah, they had a tough time, but I like to watch it anyway. Even if they don't win, for sure I'm gonna be disappointed.

But I love to watch it. I just love to follow it. It's something that makes my mind relax before matches. Like I watched their match against Leipzig just before playing Stefanos because it was rain, rain, rain. Well, I was disappointed, but still, I like to watch them. I like to support. Hopefully they can win.

Q. You had not very good year last season, and then you became a father. I have the feeling that at this point your results and your level of play become better again. So how much impact does maybe your daughter have on these results?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Same. I don't know. But let's hope. I hope that, you know, that's it's because of her that made an impact on my tennis career, and a new push kind of. The thing is that before she was born, after she was born, I'm always practicing hard. I want to improve. I try to improve. I want to win as many matches as I can, and I absolutely hate to lose.

So this didn't change at all. But yeah, maybe, I don't know, I don't want to say I became more mature, because I'm not sure that's true (smiling).

But let's hope that it changed something deep inside of me that maybe make me play better tennis.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. Hello, Daniil. Welcome. Is your mind state a bit different now that you won in Rome as you come here? Do you have a bit more ambition and you think, Yes, I could win?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yes, my general state of mind is better, because before Rome, I hadn't won the match. In Geneva, when I played last year, I lost. It's the first time I come here, having won a match the week before.

So maybe I'm a bit less stressed as far as playing on clay is concerned. Now, the thing with tennis is as soon as the first match starts, it's a new story and you don't know what's gonna happen, whether you'll play well or not, whether your opponent is going to play well or not, if I'm gonna win or lose.

For the moment, everything is okay. I'm confident. I'm going to try and apply that to the tournament, and then we'll see what happens.