NITTO ATP FINALS

November 18, 2023

Daniil Medvedev

Pala Alpitour,Torino

Press Conference

J. SINNER/D. Medvedev

6-3, 6-7, 6-1

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Hello, everyone.

THE MODERATOR: Straight to questions.

Q. I wanted to ask you, what happened with that spectator at the beginning of the third set?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Third set, you say.

To be honest, nothing. I lost my head a little bit more because I lost a break. I will be honest, the crowd I think was very nice here in Turin throughout the week. Again, as I said before the match, it's normal that they support Sinner. But when I was doing some good shots, I felt a lot of - it's not support, but a lot of applauses, which was very nice.

I think in general it was fine. I felt good energy on the court. That's why after the match you could see me thanking the crowd.

Yeah, so I lost my head a little bit. Double-fault on the break point. For sure they cheer a little bit the double-fault, but that is normal. He got the break, so I lost it. That was kind of the only game where I lost my head. Not much to talk about.

Q. Which was your plan entering the match? You lost two matches in Beijing and Vienna. Also Jannik said he won them in different ways. I guess the impression is you were very aggressive at the very beginning, then maybe the percentage of serving were a problem.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I mean, first of all, on this court, finally I don't think I got a break. On this court you want to hold your serve. It's a fast court. You want to hold your serve.

First set felt like, yeah... I had 40-Love. I mean, I felt that he was better than me in first set in terms of he had a little bit more rhythm. I was playing not bad. I had a break point. But I felt him just this tiny bit better than me.

Second set I'm very happy and proud of myself. I played well. I won the tiebreak. I played aggressive. I think in this court, that's only way and chance, to play aggressive.

Third set, as you say, unfortunately my serve let me down. I mean, or I let my serve down in the important moments (smiling). That's why the score is 6-1. I feel I was not serving quite good enough and I lost two service games, so 6-1. That's what I had to do better. I was tired.

So congrats to him, yeah.

Q. How do you generally spend your off-season? What is your schedule the next two months?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Every year was different. To be honest, I haven't been on like off-season vacation as some players. You never know. One time I had Davis Cup. Last year we had a small baby, so... I was straightaway back to the duties.

This year we're going to go with my wife to the islands. First time in maybe four, five years. She doesn't like it too much there because there is not much to do. But for me, that's perfect after a hectic season. I love it (smiling).

I'm probably going to play only Australian Open. Going to try like this to have more of a vacation time than usual and more of a (indiscernible) off-season time and start with a slam straightaway, which is going to be new for me. But let's see.

Q. What happened when you left the court? Was it a right hip issue? At one stage in the match you had your hand up. Was there a headache? What was the situation?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No, no, not a headache. That's just a sign to my team. I sometimes have signs to them (smiling). I try not to tell what are they because otherwise the opponent is going to know next time.

Yeah, unfortunately during the tiebreak, I think either last point before the tiebreak or first point of the tiebreak, felt small pain in my glute, which I honestly don't think bothered me. Well, it bothered me, but I don't think it had any effect on the first set. Maybe on the serve, but should not. It's the right one. You push the left, so should not.

The question for me is: Do I take a physio? I kind of don't believe in break of momentum or stuff like this. I was on a good wave. Do I take the physio? I felt pain so I thought it could help me. I think for the pain it helped. It didn't help for the score. Next time I will see how I do. Definitely was not doing it to throw Jannik off after he lost the tiebreak.

Q. Are you impressed by Jannik in the last weeks? He grows in results.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Very impressed, to be honest. He's playing very good now. I mean, even today he doesn't miss much. He can run well. If you give him easy ball, you feel like he moves you over the court. He can volley well. Serve has improved a lot.

Right now he's, let's call it, riding a wave. You can see it. Let's see how it's going to be in the final. It's going to be a great semis, first of all, then the final.

Then the question comes, I generally believe if he plays like this, like he played last weeks, all the time, he's going to have slams, No. 1. Then it comes to how many weeks, how many slams, stuff like this. Sometimes this way ends. The question is how often is he going to ride it. When he's not on the wave, how good he plays. That's the way tennis is.

But at the moment he is very, very good, and there's not much more to add.

Q. How do you rate what you just called this hectic season?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Well, I'm happy. I'm happy. Was a great season. Some ups, some downs for sure. Big up was in the beginning of the season. I still really maybe even proud of myself because before Rotterdam I dropped out of top 10. Was tough. Before Rotterdam on practice, I was feeling terrible, awful. I couldn't put the ball in the court. Then I lost the first set against Davidovich. I still remember.

Then after the first set, everything went to the better. Titles, finals, stuff like this. Generally, I'm happy with what I achieved this season. I'm going to try to learn from it and try to go for more in the next season because, as we say, Sinner, Alcaraz, Novak, they play only better and better. If you want to try to stay on the top, have to improve non-stop.