Daniil Medvedev – R2 Press Conference – 2024 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Hello, everyone.

THE MODERATOR: Can you talk about the match. It wasn’t the kind of start you would have hoped to have.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, it was very tough match in general. I was feeling very tight, very nervous. Could be for many different reasons. But that was the case.

When it’s like this, it’s tougher to play because usually I’m not. Usually I came in and it’s different nerve that I’m used to. This one was kind of new.

Straightaway after I lost, I missed some shots. I look at my team. I start whining. That’s when it’s probably not going to be good. At one moment I managed to gather myself together. Finally didn’t lose my serve after that moment.

So yeah, in general happy to win it in tough conditions. Sometimes you need to do it like this. If I want to win next matches, I have to be better. But a win is a win.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. A little bit before you stepped on court, the announcement was made between the ATP and the PIF.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: What is PIF?

Q. Saudi private investment fund. It’s a big deal that involves sponsorship of some of the biggest events, Indian Wells, Miami, also the name and partner for the rankings. What is your reaction?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: To be honest, no reaction at the moment because before it was Emirates, then Pepperstone. What else do we have in I don’t even know. Who are the main sponsors. I think Peugeot was there for a long time.

Q. Lexus.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Whoever it is…

It’s a new company. You know how sponsorships work. They pay money. ATP decides if they want to promote it. That’s it. I have nothing to do with this decision. I cannot say more. Also I didn’t know the company or the fund, PIF.

Q. There’s going to be a big influx of money into the tour because it’s a wide-ranging partnership. It’s not just one thing. It’s beyond the rankings and stuff like that. What do you think that would mean for the sport to have the Saudi interest? They bought into golf, so many things. To have that kind of official partnership in tennis…

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think this is good for tennis. It has nothing to do with Saudi, to be honest, because we love our sport. The more money we can attract from different companies or stuff like this, the more attention, PR, we can bring. As you said, it’s going to be bigger than just sponsorship.

I think if we can make tennis bigger as a sport, more interesting for people, have more coverage, just in general more people will know tennis, who tennis players are. Sometimes maybe you want to be less famous (smiling). But yeah, I think it’s going to be good.

Q. Your coach Gilles, he said you gave him a list of 16 players you don’t like to play. Do you like the style of play of Sonego? Can you give us a sneak peek at the list of the players you don’t like?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I try to not discuss like too much what’s said in the media. I heard him talking to someone, someone French. They were asking him this question. He was like, I don’t know where they took 16. They could say 32, 18, 21. He didn’t say 16. That’s how sometimes things are.

It was more I would say other Gilles Cervara who gave him that list. Me, it’s tough to play against everyone. At the same time it’s easy to play against everyone.

Gilles, who is with me for 10 years, he can see more who is troubling more on the court for different reasons, so he gave this list to Gilles. I doubt it was 16 players. I would think it would be less.

We didn’t yet discuss too much. When I’m going to play one of these players, then we’re going to discuss. Now before every match we discuss tactics.

I will not talk one by one. Lorenzo is a tough opponent as we see today. Sometimes he turns around the forehand on the balls where he shouldn’t maybe, and then he makes a winner. It’s tough to think, do I force on the backhand, do I start to surprise him on the forehand. Yeah, it’s not easy to play against anyone.

Q. I don’t know if you caught this, but Andy after his match mentioned he would probably stop playing after the summer. Could you share some of your fondest memories with him.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: My memories? Well, first of all, he’s a fun guy, a great guy to be around. That’s always a great quality in life. For sure he’s an admiration of mine because I remember when I was just going up the rankings, that’s the moment when he was winning slams, playing finals against Roger, Rafa and Novak. So the big four.

It’s going to be sad when he retires. He’s such a (indiscernible) that I think he’s going to try to go very far. Even I’m definitely not sure that he’s going to stop this year. Wimbledon is a big tournament, maybe then Wimbledon and stop. That’s a different story.

Till he’s here, it’s going to be fun. He’s not here, I’m sure he’s going to find a good spot in his life after tennis.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the conditions. Are they faster than they were previously? Is it different in any sort of way?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Well, it’s very tough always to answer this question because after you play last year Dubai, then you have 10 more hard court tournaments where sometimes it’s slower, sometimes it’s faster.

I would say it’s not brutally fast. For example, Turin, I can tell you right now very fast (smiling). But Dubai last year, it felt fast but playable. I think it’s kind of the same. You still have rallies. I lost my serve two times. He lost his three I think. Still you can break. Then there are also some tiebreaks.

I think, in my opinion, for hard court tennis, it’s a great court: not too fast, not too slow. I like it, yeah.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports