Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

D. MEDVEDEV/A. Michelsen

6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Congrats, Daniil. What worked so well for you today on court?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think in general I had a great level. I was putting a lot of pressure on his serve, and even second set, which was tighter, I had two games where I had break points to go double break up. On one of them I remember he made amazing volley ball on the first break point.

Could have been a bit more in front, but then in the end it got a bit tight. But happy with the way I played, the way I served, basically with everything. Looking forward to the next matches.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. He seemed very frustrated with your style of play. Wondering if you felt that on the court, and why you feel like your type of game is difficult for him?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think it's not only the style, it's more that it happened that the three times I played him, I was in great shape. It was Halle where I made finals playing great, it was Brisbane where I won the title, and here. I'm playing great right now here in the three matches I played.

So when I'm playing great, it's tough to play me because I can serve well, I can hit winners when I need to, but I can be great in defense when I need to. So it's just an all-around game, which I like, for sure, which is sometimes not easy to get ahold of.

That's a little bit I guess what happened today.

Q. Were you playing more aggressive, because he felt that you were, and maybe moving in a little bit closer?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: When I'm in confidence, I'm an aggressive player. If you look, like, the Grand Slam matches when I was making finals, I'll play like Rublev or Felix, the guys you cannot be more aggressive than them, but I would hit more winners than them, because I would be great in defense to try to reduce their winners, but whenever I had opportunity, I could move in.

So of course when I'm a bit playing worse, that's where I become defensive, but it's not by choice, it's more by when I'm playing not great, my shot power and everything drops a bit down, the percentage of the serve, et cetera.

So when I'm hitting the ball the way I hit now, I can be aggressive and can put a lot of pressure on my opponents and still being able to be great in defense, and that's what makes it tough.

Q. You play pretty quickly, generally, when you're serving. Some players find the shot clock difficult and frustrating. How do you find it?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: It's a very tough question, because the shot clock is so -- sorry, how you say it, not personal, but subjective. Because I do think -- it's very tough. I do think there should be some consideration from the referee, meaning even me who goes super fast on my serve, if you play a 40-shot rally and maybe you finish in the corner, today happened a couple of times, I go to serve and I feel like I didn't even ask for the towel, I was just trying to get some breath, and I look, it's like five seconds. And I am, like, What happened there?

So it is fast now. But some players do, how you say, abuse it by, like, it's two seconds and they go, like, Oh, my toss went away or something.

It's so subjective. I think the way it is here is a bit too fast, and if I'm saying this, then probably it is because I go fast on my serve.

But in general, yeah, because when they do it like here automatic, I feel like it's a tiny bit too fast, but when they make this rule where the guy can go to the towel and they only start it at the towel, some guys stand there, like, 20 seconds to go to the towel.

It's very subjective and whatever it is, I just try to adapt and try to play with it.

Q. Do you think some umpires do it differently to others?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I think so. I think Fergus gave me two or three times in my life a time violation and I always went nuts.

Because sometimes you play Rafa, you play, I don't know, Sascha takes, Novak takes some time to prepare for serve. And of course you play them sometimes with a different umpire. But I would love to see Fergus -- I cannot play Rafa anymore, but if he would make, like, 10 times time violation to Rafa, because you need to have some common sense sometimes, which maybe you should.

I think also what would work great is to advertise a player, meaning, you know, not give only me, everyone, you first advertise, meaning on the changeover, you say, look, there was one or two times you were getting really close, next time it's going to be a time violation.

And not like Fergus gave me, I remember this in Vienna, I went absolutely nuts and lost the match because of it, on the tiebreak, where I played like crazy two points with Moutet, I didn't even go for the towel, something, and he gave me time violation. And this I don't accept still.

Yeah, I think there is a difference.

Q. You have had quite a few moments in your career that have gone viral on social media. Are there one or two where you look back and go, That was actually pretty funny?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think, in a way, all of them because that's how life is. Some of them I'm not proud of, but in the end, all of this, it depends. It's subjective. Some people find it disrespectful; some people find it funny.

So I prefer when I'm out of the court to be more on the easy side of things and enjoy life. When I'm on the court, it's a bit different, I'm a bit more strict to myself. So if you enjoy life, you find a lot of things funny which some other people don't because they enjoy life less.

Q. You played a couple of times this week in Stadium 2, and was wondering if you thought maybe the crowd may be a little smaller there this year, and if you prefer that or still playing in front of the big crowds?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I will be honest with you, the crowd was always something, like, when you go in the stadium, 15,000, it's amazing feeling.

But, you know, we came through futures, challengers, junior events, and some are packed, some are not, sometimes you play in some futures where there is 10 people watching. It's fine. I try to do my best to win.

Sometimes I'm a bit of a guy who locks in and I don't do like tweeners and stuff, but sometimes I have some fun points. People enjoy if they come to my matches, however many it is.

So I saw this a little bit about Stadium 2. I think whatever tournament decides, it's great. I enjoyed playing there with the way it was this year.

Q. For a long time the balls have been provided by Penn. This year it's Dunlop. Can you tell the difference?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, well, if I understand right, Penn is Head, and I hate Head balls. I understand that some people like them. I just hate them, because again, I explained it very well in Rotterdam, for me the problem with Penn ball is that once you hit with it for two minutes or two points, it's not round anymore. It has some shapes of it next to the line, I don't know how you call it, like where they connect. Becomes bigger than the other one.

And I do feel like sometimes you hit the same motion, and depending on where you hit the ball, because the ball is small, it doesn't go the same way. And I hate it, because I'm, like, one time I miss, one time I put it in, but I cannot tell you why did I miss and why did I put it in.

With Dunlop, not my favorite ball, but I feel like at least it's a round ball, which however you hit decides what happens to the point.

So if you don't hit well enough, it can be out or in the net. The only thing with Dunlop was that they fluff up a bit too fast. But again, I prefer Dunlop.

Q. You did a lot of good things today, including reading and reacting to the dropshot. What makes you so good defending the dropshot? Who has the best dropshot?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Alcaraz, for sure, has crazy dropshots. And Moutet. You know what? Moutet has a different game. So for Alcaraz, what makes it easier is he can hit crazy with very strong winner, so the next one you're a tiny bit on the back leg, and then he makes the dropshot, so he counters you. Moutet has a bit different game, but has a crazy dropshot as well, so I would put these two.

Look, I try my best, because again, I remember very well Carlos played me here in Indian Wells in the final, made a lot of dropshots, a lot of winners. But I said to myself, okay, well, he has an amazing dropshot, so he can do it.

In the next week I win, so probably people watched the final, so all of them started dropshotting, and I won the title. I was, like, okay, continue.

So I just try my best. Whenever I have a dropshot to play, I try to win the point. That's it.

Q. It wasn't the case today, but how do you prepare or do you prepare differently for an opponent you have never played before? Maybe someone you practice with but you never played in a match with, maybe someone you never felt their ball before, how do you prepare for those matches?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think the preparation is the same. It's just that whenever you have played someone, you have tiny bit an idea of what his shots are. Because the tactic you can change. You can serve and volley or stay back. On the return, you can go back or forward.

But the shot you have, you cannot really change. So meaning Michelsen couldn't go in today and start spinning like Baez, for example, my previous opponent. That's probably the biggest difference is when you play someone for the first time, you kind of don't know his shot exactly, and so sometimes it takes a little bit of time to adapt into it.

But in general, your preparation is the same, because on the practice, you still hit the same ball. You, for sure, try to use, first of all, your strengths, and then you see what's gonna work during the match.

Q. Looking ahead to the next round, Novak or Jack. What are your thoughts on it? You haven't played Novak in a while.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I practiced with him here. I told him, when was the last time we played, and I think US Open, the final. So would be fun. I love playing Novak. I had a lot of success but also some tough losses.

I enjoy playing him, because he's the biggest tennis player ever. Still fighting, 38 years old. I think maybe physically he's a tiny bit worse than at his peak, but he's playing unbelievable still.

Final of Australian Open, beating Jannik. Jack, won here last year, coming back from injury, playing great. I think I would be surprised if it's a one-sided match. I think it's going to be very, very physical battle where you don't know who's gonna win.

Very different opponents, righty, lefty, different game, so I'm going to prepare for the winner.