MIAMI OPEN PRESENTED BY ITAú

March 29, 2024

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

J. SINNER/D. Medvedev

6-1, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Daniil, tough match. How did you feel out there today against Jannik?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, the margins are small when you play someone like Jannik who is in great shape. I needed to play my best, which I didn't do.

He played well, so, you know, not much more I can add. I needed to play better if I wanted to win and I didn't manage to do it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You're a great champion, a tremendous mover, a great problem-solver. Could not solve the problem of Jannik Sinner today. Last night when we interviewed Carlos Alcaraz, he said that Grigor Dimitrov played a flawless and perfect match against him, kind of tipped his cap to him, said he was in the zone. Do you feel the same way about how Sinner played against you today?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Well, I think Jannik plays like this already since some time. I don't know what he himself thinks about the match, but I'm not 100% sure he played, like, much better than what he played throughout this whole year and the end of the last year. He already played flawless.

He played good. I didn't play well enough. And again, there is not much -- you know, we could speak for hours here, but in the end I didn't play good enough, he played good, he won easy. That's the end of the story, to be honest.

Q. Daniil, have you, in your career, seen a player sort of come on the way Jannik has in the last, if we go back a year to where you were dominating him, and not just come on in terms of the head-to-head with you but just sort of come on in general and take over things? What do you chalk that up to in terms of what you have seen evolving in his game?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Well, yeah, I was not there when Big 3 came on tour, so for sure me, I didn't see anyone, let's say -- well, Carlos. Yeah, Carlos, the way he went up, I think went up different way. Carlos maybe a bit faster. But in a way, they both went up very young and kind of straight to the top.

And, yeah, as I say, he's playing well now. He doesn't miss much and he can make winners so well. He serves very well. Even today the few moments where maybe I could have came back in the match here and there, 130 on the line, slice on the line, second serve on the line, deep, and yeah, that's tough to play when he plays like this.

You know, the next time I'm gonna play I'm gonna try for sure to play better, maybe a bit different, and let's see if he manages to continue to play the way he does, because if he manages, it's going to be tough for many other players, yeah.

Q. Just to ask, was everything okay with you? Because it looked so uncharacteristic for the way you played today. Looking at that scoreline, it was almost reminiscent of the Canada final against Nadal.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Oh, true, true, true. Nice memory (smiling).

Q. It just didn't seem you on the court.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I mean, conditions were a bit different, but I don't want to -- I'm not sure I missed because of this. My plan was to play aggressive kind of like in Australia, a bit more aggressive than I usually do, and it's always a risk.

Because even if I practice this on practice courts, my game is like counterdefensive style, but I felt like against him, and that's why I did it in Australia, this might not be not enough anymore, and that's why the head-to-head is a little bit worse than it was a couple of months ago.

In Australia it worked well. Here, I was missing too much. Before the second set, and I was completely okay physically and everything, before the second set the question was do I go back to playing, like, my style or I continue this way? Because if we saw Alcaraz against him in Indian Wells was same, 6-1, kind of easy, and then Carlos managed to step up and play better and beat Jannik.

I was like, no, I want to try to do the same, and I didn't manage to do it. That time I decided to, let's say, play my game. It was a bit too late. I mean, still had Love-30 and volley, but it's not easy to come back from this score. Yeah, for sure I'm disappointed, but that's how life is sometimes. That's how tennis is.

Q. You had great results over the last months, but the last championship came in Rome. Does that concern you in any way?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Well, it depends, because I'm trying, you know, to play the best tournaments in the world. I think if we look tournament by tournament, you know, I'm losing against big players.

I have been in some finals and I lost against Sinner, Djokovic, Alcaraz, and for sure I want to beat them and, let's say, be better than them. But I didn't manage to do it and I have to work on it either mentally or tennis-wise.

You know, for example, on clay I'm going to play Monte-Carlo, Rome, Madrid, Roland Garros. It might be tough to get a title there, but, you know, yeah, if I would play ten 250s a year, I'd probably get some titles. Never be too confident, but I'm sure I would be able to, but I'm trying to play the best tournaments in the world.

Dubai was a good opportunity. Humbert played well. I didn't manage to do it. Yeah, hopefully I can get some this year.

Q. He had beaten you four straight. I was wondering if you had tried to change some tactics. I know you were looking at your box a couple of times. Did you try to do something different?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No, I kind of tried to -- because I think the tactics I used in the beginning of the match was not the problem. The problem was the execution, too many mistakes. Yeah, not enough precision.

So for sure after the match like this, I'm asking myself if I should have changed it earlier, but I stick to what I thought was going to work, and I wanted to do it better and I didn't manage to do it. When I changed, it was just too late.

So, no, when I have the next match against him, I'm gonna see what I do and how I develop.

Q. You played him last year also in the final here. How is he different as a player or as a person, do you think, from last year to this point at the same tournament?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Well, as a person, I think he's the same. We don't know each other, like, too close but we get along well. I don't see any difference.

As a player, he misses less, he chooses his shots more wisely. He serves 10 times better. You know, Jannik was always serving well, but now he serves like big, big.

Yeah, I wonder actually how he made it, because serve is not that easy, it's not that easy shot to work on, and now he's, yeah, his serve is a big improvement for him and kind of what I have could have done better today, the serve. Yeah, so not much more to add.