LAVER CUP

September 22, 2024

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

B. SHELTON/D. Medvedev

6-7, 7-5, 10-7

Team Europe - 7

Team World - 11

THE MODERATOR: Thanks for coming. Really, really close match against Ben. What do you feel after the match?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, it's very rare I say something like this, but in my opinion, I played a horrible match, one of the -- like during the match I felt like I was playing one of the worst tennis of my life.

But it's okay. I fought. The momentum is that not there at the moment. Two super tiebreaks, two close matches. The momentum like to win these matches is not there at the moment, and I'm very disappointed because I'm not playing only for myself, I'm playing for the team, for a very strong team. So I'm very disappointed with my performance.

But that's how it is sometimes, and hopefully the guys can save my ass. If not, we'll lose and we go next year.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Daniil, any reason that you can pinpoint as to why you played so poorly, and yet you hit that amazing running forehand down the line?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, that's the thing. The shots were not bad. The tennis was horrible. So it's very tricky, because the shots were there, like some points, some shots, some serves.

But the general, like, painting of the game was not there at all. Like some of the mistakes I made, I was just not feeling it. No idea why.

In tennis it's very, very tough to find exactly why, what. It's so many small details. Maybe I went to sleep a bit later yesterday because the days are long, or maybe I just didn't prepare well enough mentally. You never know.

But this is the reality, and again, it's okay. My job here is finished. I'll come back, support, and hope for the best and get ready for what's next for me.

Q. How much more is the disappointment the fact that this is your one opportunity to be in a team environment?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: A lot, because usually I play good in the team. I think I won a lot of matches in my team career, even if I take juniors. Always like this kind of pressure but support from the teammates.

That's why again today, by feeling interiorly that I played horrible, I still managed to, like, raise it up and, like, catch the fire, I would say. I caught it, but it was not enough to win.

So yeah, very, very disappointed, but nothing you can do. Disappointment is good, bad, but you cannot change the past.

Q. It seemed that when you threw your racquet, the World Team expected a disqualification. What are your thoughts about that?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I didn't want to throw it the way I threw it. I mean, I didn't want -- I wanted to throw it, like, on one place, so was horrible from me. I got lucky. I didn't touch anyone. When you don't touch anyone in tennis, you don't get a disqualification. So that's it. I got, yeah, should not do this.

Q. I'm just asking players if you can make one change to the rules or format for the Laver Cup in future years, what would you choose differently and why?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Laver Cup? That's a good question. I think the format is pretty good.

(Pause.) Sorry, I'm thinking. Yeah, I guess, you know, there are a lot of good doubles players. Could be nice maybe to take one, you know. Maybe two is too much, to take a whole team, but to take one doubles player on the team a little bit like a seventh player, and then you decide if you want to put him or not.

Maybe he stays there without playing if singles players decide that they are better on this matchup. But if not, the format is pretty good. That's why it's tough to answer the question, but one doubles player per team could be fun.