THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 6, 2024

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

D. MEDVEDEV/J. Struff

6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Yesterday speaking to Grigor he said whenever you two play, no match is ever the same. You know each other's game styles. Played him seven years ago on grass. How are you feeling going into the next round?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, it was our first match and I feel like we played a lot. I don't remember how many times. But I would say something like nine, eight. So we do know each other very well. Some tough matches, like some tough battles.

Interesting matches with a lot of good points I feel like. Going to be interesting to play against him on grass again.

Yeah, I will have to show my best tennis, serve well, hit the shots well because he can play very good tennis. Not much more to add.

Q. How is your shoulder feeling today?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I'm serving well now. I'm feeling confident. I'm feeling good. No pain or anything like this. So that helps. After serve or even any other shot, never easy. Every day you come, you hope it goes well. I hope tomorrow it goes well.

Q. When you saw the weather forecast, scheduled on Court 2, what were your thoughts?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I mean, I knew it's going to be a long day. I actually thought we would not play at all yesterday. But the weather was actually better than what it was supposed to be. So we managed to get full three sets. Then got unlucky with the rain.

I felt like today, what I saw yesterday, I felt like it could get actually lucky. We were very unlucky with the girls also playing in front of us. It was, like, 6-1, 3-1. We both go warm up. Then it was like the longest set ever. Then the third set was 3-1. We start to re-warm up, 3-3. So it was roller coaster match. Then we come in, rain, so...

It was definitely not easy, but I'm happy to win. I feel good physically, which is important. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Q. Tomorrow against Grigor, he's got a single-hander, you're views on that shot. Could you ever imagine playing with a single-hander? What are the pros and cons?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No, I never imagined myself. I don't know why. We have some double-backhanders who can hit, like, a passing shot with one hand. For me it's very tough. I'm not good at it, so I don't think I would be good with one hand. I really love my backhand.

Pros and cons? Tough to say exactly. I feel like probably one-handed backhand is a bit less stable, I would say. With two hands, many players tend to not miss much. One hand, I think they miss a bit more. At the same time you can go down the line and it's tougher to see them with the double-backhander. They usually have a much better slice. At the net, I think they usually play better.

We had a lot of great players with one hand, we had a lot of great players with two hands. I don't even know how one coach decides for a young guy or a young guy decides to play with one or two. I don't remember how it happened to me, but I'm happy to play with two hands.

Q. Last year it was Court 1 story. This year it was Court 1, Centre, now this. What is the key success factor for this year and how you going to win the tournament here?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Look, I win the tournament? Need to play well tomorrow on Court 1 actually again. Every year I play on Court 2. Actually funny enough, three years in a row, whenever I play on Court 2, I have to finish the match the next day. That's my story with Court 2.

My story with Court 1 is so far so good, so I'm looking forward to playing there tomorrow. Look, if I want to win the tournament, I need to play my best tennis, doesn't matter which court, doesn't matter against who. That's the only way it can work.

Q. How would you describe the state of your game and your feeling about playing on grass at this moment?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: To be honest, quite well. Coming into the tournament, a little like tricky, not knowing what to wait from the first round. Many times coming into the Grand Slam, like in a way I don't feel my best tennis. I manage to discover it during the tournaments.

Right now I feel like I'm playing well. I beat a very, very strong grass opponent. Actually even one set 6-1, which I was surprised. I'm still surprised against Jan-Lennard. Happy with my level.

The only way to win the whole thing is to play better and better every match. So far I managed to do it. So looking forward.

Q. Why do you think there's such a difference how open the US Open is and how closed it is here?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I have absolutely no idea. It's true that the US Open, even during the big 4, Marin won it, Stan won it. Stan won two other ones. But still, in a way.

No explanation. On grass, Roger, Novak took a lot of portion of the titles. They both play actually, I would say, different styles. But perfect grass court style. They feel the game well. It's tough to get the title from them. Even last year, Carlos had to work hard.

But let's see what happens this year. Maybe we have another new winner, then we can talk about this.