Daniil Medvedev – R1 Press Conference – 2024 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

THE MODERATOR: We’ll start with first question.

Q. Of all the hard courts on tour, would this rank as one of your favorites because you won the title comfortably last year?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I won a lot of titles on hard courts, but never two times in a row. I think the first time I do somewhere two times is going to be my favorite one (smiling).

It’s pretty fast. I like faster hard courts than slower. I prefer it to some other ones, for sure. Actually, first two times I came here, I didn’t play well. I went to Acapulco. I was like, Okay, I don’t really feel the ball here and stuff like this.

Last year decided to come back and managed to play amazing. Was probably one of the best tournaments I have ever played in terms of games, confidence. I beat Andrey 6-2, 6-2. Beat Novak 4-4. Pretty amazing tournament.

Yeah, somewhere up top there. Let’s see if I manage to win it.

Q. Your chance to win two in a row for the first time in your career…

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, for sure. I definitely want to do it one time in my career. It’s not going to be easy here, just coming back after a stop. Like today was quite a good match but it was not perfect. If you want to win titles, at one moment, especially later the tournament, you’ll have to be perfect. But that’s what I’m going to try to aim for.

Q. Considering it was your first match in a while, how do you think it went?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think it was not bad. I mean, first set, I even forget I lost the serve in the first set. I think that was a little bit not such a good moment with new balls. Second set when he broke me, he played quite well. He served well. I managed to stay in touch and break him when he was serving for the set. That’s always important to put this pressure, extra pressure, on your opponent.

In general, I’m pretty happy. But, as I say, there were definitely some moments where I could have played better. Again, I beat a very tough opponent in two sets, so looking forward to next matches and seeing how I develop.

Q. Now that it’s the first time you actually prepared a match with Gilles Simon, what was that like?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: When you bring someone new on the team, especially of course if you tell him exactly that I bring you to the team to try to improve… In tennis energy is important. Some players, especially when they get older, they travel with coaches, but it’s even more like friends. It’s okay because you need someone on tour to be with you, help you organize things. That was not the case when I invited Gilles. It was to improve.

For sure he tries to bring some new things, little bit more tactics in my game. In the beginning it’s not going to be easy. It’s a question of when I’m going to get used to it, how fast, is it going to help me two times or 1.1 or not help me. We’re going to see.

I think it’s going to be very interesting. I think I’m going to improve my game. It’s tough like this. You need time. It was a bit tight in the match. There were shots where, Did I do a good job or not? Stuff like this.

Q. Yesterday Andrey said one of the reasons for success in Dubai is because he enjoys the city.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I feel welcomed many places in the world, but Dubai is a nice city. A lot of things to do. Feel like it’s always better when we play tennis, we really don’t have much time to walk around and enjoy. It’s still always better because there are some tournaments on tour where you know you’re coming there, you’re probably going to eat in the same restaurant for one and a half weeks because there is not much, and sometimes after a couple of days you’re like, Oh, my God… It’s not easy.

I feel like I’m really easygoing in terms of I can come to small village or big city like Dubai, New York, enjoy both. I like it here in Dubai. Honestly, I think I’m going to come back many times, so yeah.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports