ROLEX PARIS MASTERS

November 1, 2023

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

G. DIMITROV/D. Medvedev

6-3, 6-7, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Bad luck, Daniil. You saved a lot of match points. What do you think made the difference in the final-set tiebreak?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: He played better, good return on 1-0. Could I do better? I'm not even sure. Bad mistake at 2-0, but that's mostly it. Other than that he made some winners and played good points. Served well.

So in the tiebreak, not much to say. I'm happy the way I fought. I managed to raise my level during the match, so in a way, for sure, very disappointed with the match and the result, but don't see too much I could do better and I think I played a good match. So probably should try to stay positive.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. I do have to ask you about the crowd. I know it's not the first time you haven't wanted to play when you've been booed. Why is it that you choose not to play and how did you feel about the crowd today in particular?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: So what happened is I throw the racquet, I get booed. Normal. I don't see a problem with that. I go to serve, they applause or something. But I want to serve. They shouldn't applause. So I still serve.

The referee was talking during this so Grigor was not ready. Okay, that happens, but I get booed. I didn't see why, so I didn't want to play. That's actually the end of the story.

Then I was, like, okay. Till they boo, I'm not going to play. But Bercy crowd doesn't stop to boo. So I was, like, okay. Then when I got a code, I was, like, do I really want to get disqualified and finish the match on this note? No. So I went to play.

Q. I also noticed that you raised your middle finger when walking out. Can you tell me what that was about?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No, I didn't. I just checked my nails, like this (demonstrating). (Laughter.)

No, really, it's nothing more than that. Why would I do that to this beautiful crowd in Paris-Bercy? (Smiling.)

Q. Can you just talk a little bit about your relationship with the French tennis public? I mean, you live in France. You speak fluent French. That normally makes you very popular and you've had a lot of support here. Or is it nothing to do with France? Is it the kind of thing that could happen anywhere?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I think, first of all, as you say, kind of doesn't really have to do anything with France or not France. I think it just depends the tournament, the way I act, the way the crowd acts. So it's like all coming together.

In general, I have a lot of French friends, and they don't seem to like very much this tournament. Maybe there is a reason.

Me, generally, yeah, I played much better here without the crowd, so that's all I can say (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. Could you give us your mindset? You showed your finger. It was quite a match. There are so many things to say.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: The match was good, actually. It was hard to have two tournaments back to back. I had to fight to gain confidence.

Grigor is quite in good shape right now. It is difficult because the balls are different, but I fought till the end.

As for the public, if we take the whole match that last three hours, there were just two minutes, five minutes. At 5-All during the second set, and during the third set I think I threw the racquet, and when I throw the racquet, I can be booed. I mean, it's normal that I should be booed. But if I'm serving and they applaud and I'm being booed, that's another kettle of fish.

But everybody knows that we lack focus when that happens. Not everyone likes to play here in Paris for this reason. I played in Bercy much better when there was no crowd at all in attendance.

Q. As far as you're concerned, the Bercy crowd is the worst crowd?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I don't want to say the worst. Well, we have 60 players. 30 of them will love it; 10 players will think that it's not relevant, so on and so forth. So I'm not going to say anything. I don't want to say bad things about this tournament in general.

It's just that it doesn't work. Every match is the same. Things like that happen.

As for some tournaments, there are some tournaments to which I like to come back, and here, well, I have problems with the crowd. It happens.

Maybe in two years we won't play here, but I'm still glad to come back and that's it.

Q. Maybe Bercy will be relocated? Maybe the license will be rebought by someone else? But it's certainly much better here in France, in Bercy, than in front of the Arabic crowd where there is no one, for instance. What do you prefer?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I didn't see the box. I didn't see many people. But it's same thing for tennis. Maybe in one year, two years, they won't have crowds at first, but then it will take on and we will have more people coming in.

I'm not too much into that, but I don't think that Paris will lose Masters 1000. I just heard that it would be relocated to another arena. I don't know much more about it, so I won't lie about this.

But if Paris-Bercy is a legendary tournament, I don't know for how long it's been going on, but there are actually a lot of winners and I'm one of them. But I will come back. I will try to do better in terms of tennis level. This is how you manage to have the crowd supporting you. That's when you give your best. That's what I said last time.

I have nothing to say against the public. It's just that it doesn't click sometimes, and I hope it will change.