DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

February 29, 2024

Daniil Medvedev

Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium

Press Conference

D. MEDVEDEV/A. Davidovich-Fokina

6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Please, first question.

Q. Would you say this is your luckiest day with the net? I counted four or five balls that hit the net cord and went over to his side.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think it was four. I definitely got lucky. There was one more that touched the net for him and went on his side. Sometimes it happens. At one moment in the second set, I'm like, Wow, I'm almost doing it on purpose. But I'm not.

I always play low of above the net, so this helps to touch the tape. Also many times you can touch the tape, the ball actually going to go up today and make an easy shot for the opponent. Today was not the case. It was dropping behind the net.

Definitely little bit lucky day. I don't remember other day where it would be four times. But that's how tennis is sometimes. Today I got lucky. Next time it could be him.

Q. You're pretty consistent on the tour in terms of results. May you share your tips how you keep that mentally strong and present?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Me, I always have motivation. That's why I managed many times to win many tournaments in a row or being in the finals, something like this. That's how tennis is. You can get very upset, you lose first round. The thing is that next week you have a new opportunity to win the tournament, make finals or something like this.

It's the same the other way around. When I win the tournament, I'm happy for a little bit of time, but really little, short time. If the next tournament is coming soon, I know if I lose the first round I'm going to forget straightaway the victory - unless it's a Grand Slam. I know that I have to forget this victory and go for the new tournament.

I'm always motivated to do more. I hate to lose, so that's my motivation.

Q. It's been a while since you played doubles on the tour. You played tennis with Andrey at the World Tennis League. Now you're much more comfortable at the net. Would you consider playing more doubles on the tour? If you would, could you pick some dream partners?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Dream partners? Andrey, definitely. We played actually very good in World Tennis League where we were pretty consistent. I think we started bad. We lost a break, then we got the break back and never lost a set. That was pretty awesome.

I do feel like I think one of the last doubles I played, it was one on grass, was tough. Before was ATP Cup where we played very good with Roman Safiullin. I found my tactic to play doubles, and it seemed to be working well.

Let's see. Maybe Olympics I can play doubles if I have the partner. Karen and Andrey, if they play, they're probably going to play together. I hope Roman can keep his ranking. I don't know if he wants to play. I didn't talk to him yet.

Me, I have my routine. When I win match, even if I have a day off, I know when I want to practice, what I want to do after. With doubles, it's very unpredictable. They can put you at 7 p.m., next day you have a singles match. Probably not going to play doubles ever I would say, but maybe one, two times here in my life. But yeah, let's see.

Q. It seemed very windy outside. How do you compare it to Indian Wells or the windier tour stops around the world? Did you really have to adjust mentally when it's difficult? Do you just slip into it?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I remember actually when we played with Alejandro last year in Indian Wells, was unbelievably windy, another level. He made one time dropshot, which was terrible. On a break point - no, it was deuce. Terrible dropshot. The wind took it and I think it touched his side and then went over. Yeah, when with we play against him, the wind steps up.

Yeah, the wind is many places around the world. I didn't feel anything special. It's for sure a bit tough. The toss, sometimes you toss the ball, it can fly in the air. Same thing for the return and stuff like this. You just try to adapt. Try to put the ball in the court. If you play with the wind, you try to play lower and slower. If you play against the wind, you can basically hit quite hard because the ball is going to stop.

Small adjustments here and there. Not easy. Not easy for anyone. I don't think anyone likes to play in the wind.

Q. I think you mentioned on court some of your team weren't feeling too well. Can you tell us a bit more.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No, just a little stomach - how you say when the stomach turns? I don't even know how to say this.

I didn't have any like this. As I said yesterday, I was just feeling a bit strange on the court, like if I didn't have much energy. Sometimes when you have a small virus or, I don't know, disease, it could happen. At the same time I'm feeling good. Today I'm feeling good, so I don't know.

I just said it like this because I really don't see much not solution but much reason why yesterday I was feeling like this. Maybe this is the reason. Never know.

Q. Some players like one surface more than others. Some players like to play on all surfaces. You've been vocal about your feelings for clay court. How do you assess the difference and how do you like the difference surfaces?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Well, I like hard courts. This probably going to stay all my life. But because of this, it's a big challenge for me to play on clay and grass.

Lately I'm growing, I'm maturing. I managed to do much better on these surfaces. Last year I won a Masters 1000 on clay, which still doesn't sit comfortably with me, but I'm happy about it. Wimbledon semifinals. I did two finals on grass, and won Mallorca. Not so bad.

Definitely better on hard courts. It's not a surprise. Nobody's going to be surprised about it. When I'm 35, I want to be able to play same way on all the surfaces.

Q. I wanted to ask you, after you became a father, how you may have changed off the court, and if at all you've changed on the court?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: It's a very tough question because I feel like you never know if it has a direct reasoning. But this year I want to try to step up a little bit, to be calmer and stuff like this.

Especially in our world of social media and stuff like this, anything I do is going to stay with me for all my life. So my children is going to see it at one moment. Imagine they're 10 years old, you say, You shouldn't do like this.

They're going to be like, Yeah, you did the same.

Okay, I have nothing more to say.

That's a tricky part. I hope it help me grow up, mature. We never know if it's true, but I do think so.

Q. Next opponent is either Hurkacz or Humbert.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Both players are tough in these conditions. Both can serve well. Hubie is probably the biggest serve at the moment. I saw this is a crazy statistic. Nine tiebreaks in a row, and yesterday he managed to play final in not a tiebreak, which is a little bit surprising to me. In my opinion, he's very good on return. He's not like - how we call - a serve-bot. Nine tiebreaks in a row...

Both can play well here. Both are in great shape this season I think. It will be a tough matchup. Actually they could play long and interesting, so let's see who wins.

Q. There was a multi-partnership between Saudi and ATP. Can you share your thoughts on that, especially that you come to this region a lot?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Look, I said yesterday that I think the more we promote the sport in different countries, the more we can make tennis bigger, bigger sport, more fans, more people playing, more kids, who knows.

When I say the tour can be bigger, they're actually already doing bigger tournaments and more opportunities for more players, so I think the better it is.

At this moment, I don't know how it's going to go. They just announced. Yeah, what's going to happen? In one year we can see if it was a positive thing. I hope so. Let's see where it goes, yeah.