THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 7, 2024

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

D. MEDVEDEV/G. Dimitrov

3-5 (ret.)

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It wasn't exactly the way you would have liked the match to go. Do you prefer having the extra rest to recover or would you have preferred some more time on court?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: It's tough to say. Well, first of all, prefer to not have anyone injured, that's for sure. Not me, not my opponent, not anyone. A life without injuries is good, but that's sport.

It depends how the match would be. If I would have lost, then probably prefer the way it is now. If I would have won 7-6 in the fifth, not sure it would be good for the next match.

But again, it is what it is. I'm going to have probably a bit more practice tomorrow because actually didn't get to warm up today before the match because it was raining. We'll probably just hit more tomorrow and be ready for the next match.

Q. Next is Jannik. Half an hour ago he said he's expecting that you're going to come up with something. You're not going to tell me what you're going to come up, but did you actually talk to something with Gilles to understand how to break Jannik's streak?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: We didn't talk yet. But we actually practiced with Jannik here before the tournament. Was a great set. Was a great practice set.

Look, the funny thing is I lost five times. But if I remember right, four times were really close. Did I get unlucky or not? Even Beijing, two tiebreaks. What was it? Vienna, quite crazy match. Turin, still close match. I feel like maybe he won it easier, the Australian Open, close match. Then Miami he won easy.

I feel like I was not far, but great job from him to win it five times in a row. First time we play on grass, I'm definitely going to come up with something. Hopefully I'm playing good, serve is important on grass. Whatever you come up, the more aces you hit, the better you feel.

It's going to be important from both of us. I'm going to try to see what I can do to play good, to surprise him, to make him in trouble. He's for sure going to do the same. Hopefully it's going to be a good match. Try my best to win.

Q. Obviously there's been a total reversal of your head-to-head against Jannik. How different an opponent does he feel to you now in your last few meetings than at the start of your rivalry? How different does it feel to face him?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: He plays better. He misses less. When Jannik came on tour, straightaway everyone was a little bit, not shocked but like how strong he hits, how he can run fast and hit strong from every position of the court. But he was missing a lot and hence, losing a lot some matches.

As soon as he stopped missing less, well, now it's very tough to beat him for anyone. Not only for me. That's why he's No. 1 in the world.

I do think, if I'm not mistaken, by statistics I usually play better against No. 1s in the world than maybe some other guys. Let's see if it helps me against Jannik.

But, again, yeah, he misses less, serves much better. His serve was not as good before.

Small details makes big difference in tennis. It's definitely tougher to play him now than before. Again, as I said, the matches were close. I had my chances. I'll try to use them better this time.

Q. On Gilles' list of 15 players?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: For sure. Sinner, Alcaraz. Probably a lot of top-10 guys are on this list.

Q. It's quite difficult to understand why someone can win six times in a row, then lose five times in a row. Is it mental? Is it one day you wake up, you feel better, the other one doesn't feel well? If I had to say to my grandmother why this happens, I would be in trouble. What about grass? You didn't like much grass at the beginning. Now what do you think this surface? Who is favoring a little bit more? Someone who hits harder, someone who hits the ball like you do?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I think first of all, talking about what you said in the beginning, it's all together: how you wake up this day, who makes an ace on the break point. I think even Miami, easy match for him. The one break point I had to try to maybe turn the match around, he made ace. Good job. That's how you do it, win matches or lose them. Don't make a double-fault on break point, make an ace. It's a lot of different details.

On grass, tough to say because now for sure everyone talks about it. This is a reality, grass is much slower. When I grew up, when I was 10 years old, I watched. I had the feeling it's impossible to break from baseline. Now the feeling is when you go to the net, it's not that easy. Maybe on hard courts even is same to go to the net. It's definitely different.

I think serve stays very important. Whoever manages to serve good is in big advantage. You know, Roger, Novak, is actually impressive because they don't have serve like 230 kilometers per hour, but super precise and super sharp. It's tough to break them, tough to beat them. That's why they won so many times. Same for Carlos last year. I played him in semis, he was serving well.

That's again what I have to do against Jannik, I have to serve well, then you get your chances in the match.

Q. Are you happy with the level of your tennis in this tournament?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Honestly, yes. A bit up and down. Like first match you always get just to feel what it is. I think I played well. Second match I felt like I could play much better. I actually got the feedback from my team, some people even like friends, that Alexandre was playing amazing, everyone thought I was playing good, too. So good to know. Against Struff I think I played very good.

Today, tough beginning of the match. Again, I didn't get the warmup. If I'm not mistaken, Grigor got injured at 3-All. Good to come back at 3-All.

I'm feeling good in my shots, feeling good mentally, in a good state. Feeling strong, looking forward to a match against world No. 1.

Q. When you've played someone so many times lately, how does that change how you prepare? Do you not watch as much video? Does it change it at all?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I think it depends. I feel more like the more you beat the opponent, the more you get the feel, Okay, I play there, I play like this, he's in trouble. The more you lose, the trickier it becomes because you're, like, I did this, the other match I tried the other thing, I lost both matches. What do I have to do better? Where do I have to combine it?

For sure we're going to talk a lot with my team. Videos, I don't know, because it's grass, it's different. I'm not sure that videos is going to be much the thing. As you say, we played each other a lot. We know how it is. It's just for me to come up with a good tactic for this day. Grass, do I return from close, from far? Do I play aggressive, defensive? Defensive is not good. But a little waiting.

I will see. Then the match is a different story. During the match it's also important to adapt. That's what he did well in Australian Open. I'm looking forward for a tough battle and an interesting match.