THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 8, 2023

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

D. MEDVEDEV/M. Fucsovics

4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Daniil, initial thoughts on today's match.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Tough one. Tough opponent. As I said on the court, he was in quarters of Wimbledon. I never been. He plays well on grass. Very happy to beat such a tough opponent on grass.

Yeah, I felt like playing good kind of the whole match. One bad game on my serve in the first set. Was enough for him to win. Managed to be more decisive than him in the three other sets. Really happy with my level. Looking forward to next match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Your record on grass, former US Open champion, Australian Open finalist, quarterfinals at the French, I think today equals your best-ever run at Wimbledon. How determined are you to prove yourself on grass, be considered one of the modern great all-around players?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I'm very motivated, very determined. For sure I was. I said it before the tournament, that I want to do well here.

The thing is that everyone can play well. We saw today, Marton played well. I managed to turn the match around. Great. I play Jiri next. He's a really strong opponent. I think on grass he can be really dangerous. I'm going to try my best to at least equal the French Open performance.

For sure, I mean, right now, as you said yourself, by the results, it's sure that on clay and the grass I play less good than on hard courts. But I want to try to change it and try to be in the finals of slams playing the best players, even on these surfaces. That's another chance for me this year.

I hope I can continue playing the way I played today. I felt like I played well. Hopefully I can continue this way through the tournament. Like this, I'm going to have my chances.

Q. One of your countrywomen, Mirra Andreeva had a breakthrough the last few months. Have you spoken to her? What do you think of her game?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: We haven't spoken much. When I see her, we say hi or congrats when she wins matches. I would say we don't know each other on a personal level.

I didn't see a lot of her matches, but I saw some. I mean, what she's doing at 16 years old is just exceptional. It's one thing to play good tennis. It's another thing to win these matches kind of in a way back to back. It's been already a lot of tournaments where she's passing quallies, making deep runs.

That's amazing because that's kind of why Alcaraz, Sinner, Rune are amazing also. At a young age, you can make sensations, you can beat top guys, but to be able to go deep in these tournaments, it's very tough.

For the moment, she seems like a very big thing coming, but we never know. Hopefully she can continue playing this way and continue to go further and further in Grand Slams, Masters, and best tournaments.

Q. I think there are seven Russians and Belarusians through the fourth round, including yourself. Does that mean anything after having missed last year?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Honestly, I think that's just sports because that shows that we know sometimes how to play good tennis, because sometimes we lose, sometimes we win.

It means that, yeah, a lot of players can play well. A lot of players missed it last year, this opportunity to go deep in such a beautiful tournament like Wimbledon.

I don't think there is any second thought after this. We're just here to try to play our best, maybe win, maybe go far, maybe not. I hope just for myself that I will be able to go far.

Q. Curious about how you view your year so far. Obviously you've won a lot of titles, doing really well in the race, but less successful at the slams. Would you swap the tour stuff for more success at the slams?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Depends if we talk about final of a slam or winning a slam. Winning a slam I would probably swap anything. Final of a slam, maybe not, because title is a title. I have it at my home. I can look at it every day. I can hold it every day. I don't, I never take them out just to hold them.

It's a great feeling to win titles. The bigger the title, the better. Final I would say is great for experience. But, yeah, final is not the same. It's always better to be in the final than lose in the first round, but still title is better. If I could swap it for a win of a slam, I probably would, but not for the final.

I'm really happy for my season, but I have two Grand Slams to come. One is going over right now. I hope that I can do well during them.

Q. After missing last year, do you find yourself more motivated at Wimbledon this year than any time before?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think not really. I think I'm more motivated just because so far it's been my worst slam. Fourth round is my best result. Even I wouldn't say that I love grass, I feel like I can play well here. So that's important for me to try to prove to myself and maybe everyone else that I can do it and can go far.

Also the thing after my Australian Open 2022, I never really had a deep run in the slams. Never was even in quarters. I want to change it because I feel like I belong to this later stages of this tournament.

But you have to beat very tough opponents and you have to be at your best. That's what I did manage to do. That's what I want to try to do this week.

Q. Your compatriot Roman Safiullin is in his first Grand Slam second week. It's normal for you to see him like this...

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Very normal. He has big talent, ex-No. 1 junior. He was always through the junior tournaments, we were all coming together, me, Andrey, him, Karen, maybe some other guys, and he was always there. Got really unlucky with injuries at the beginning of his career. I think that could be also what stopped him a little bit to straightaway going into the tour and just be let's call it a local on the ATP Tour.

But he's doing it now. Amazing win over Roberto in the first round. Crazy match. I watched maybe two sets of it. Happy for him. Hopefully he can do even better. He's not in my part of the draw so I don't have to think about it too much. Just hope that he can go as far as possible.

Q. You had that pretty straightforward match with Chris Eubanks in Miami. He's through to the fourth round here. What are his strengths?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Very tough. We say with our coach that he has kind of, I don't know if it's the same in English like it is in French, a total tennis. He is not scared of anything. He just goes for it. Hits very, very fast. Goes to the net as soon as he has the opportunity. Big serve.

From what I saw, because I know him since long time, he managed to find something this year which I don't think he had before, is the consistency of doing like back-to-back matches, not missing too much, going for the same shots, just being consistent.

First title gives you wings, if we can say like this. We can see it here. So right now seems like he's going to be a player to beat for many more years to come.

But we never know. For the moment playing great, so not much more to add.

Q. Grass is a surface on which the matches are shorter, so you need to be very focused. How do you have the ability to stay in the game every second?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Completely true. I honestly think that on hard courts it's kind of the same. So many times one break can decide.

But on grass, yeah, like today was a second serve, I kind of saw where it was going so I was ready for it. Touch the line, goes into my body, impossible to return. That's where you're like, Well, every point is even more important because this can happen and you cannot do much about it. I did the same on the match point. The ball touched the line, he couldn't return it.

That's where every point becomes more important. You don't know which moment, but you can have bad luck, stuff like this.

I don't particularly work it let's say outside of the court. In general I try to practice well. That helps. Of course, in my opinion, experience is a key. Like when you are young, that's where Mirra, Holger, all of these guys who are going far, are amazing.

When I was younger, I would be like, Okay, you make two good shots, you're happy, try to pump up the crowd, then you can hit four unforced errors just because you are not used to it.

By playing big, big matches on the big stage, I think I'm used to it and I'm able to do it.

Q. You've had a lot of iconic moments like with Dead Fish... What is your favorite one of those? Do you like being known for these unusual things?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: If it's a good thing, yeah. I don't like for sure to be known for let's say some tantrums or things like this because that's some of the things I regret.

About the fun things, for sure I love it. I love the fact that, I mean, now social media is everything, so maybe when I'm 50 years old I could go and still see my videos with some funny things.

Maybe you know they're going to show it to the kids who will not see me play. Say, Look, there was a guy who did these crazy things on the court. Hopefully the good ones.

Which should I choose like the best one? I had some good ones. Yeah, I would go for my speeches. I love my speeches and interviews after the match. I will not choose one. Yeah, US Open final when I lost to Rafa was quite fun because I was for sure disappointed, but I managed to play it good.