ROLEX PARIS MASTERS

November 1, 2020

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How are you feeling entering this tournament, physically and mentally and everything?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I'm feeling not so bad. Of course confidence could be a little bit higher when you go further in the tournaments. But physically and mentally I feel ready for the end of the season. I don't feel burnt out. So that's the most important.

Even though we can say maybe this season it's tough to be burnt out. We see a lot of withdrawals, a lot of tough moments from many guys.

Me, I'm ready to fight and ready to show my best.

Q. Obviously this time last year was quite different for you, because you were making so many finals in a row, and this is quite different. I guess how distant of a memory is that for you? Does it feel like a lifetime ago? Because this year has been very strange with the long break and everything. How do you view that period compared to now?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, well, I think it depends on the person, because I don't really like to live in the past. Either it was good or bad, I want to move on. I want to think more about the future. For example, what I'm doing in the present, when I'm in practice or match, I just want it to be, to do the best I can.

So in the future it will also help. Even if you lose some matches, if you work hard then in the future it's going to come back.

That's why it feels kind of long ago. Same time, of course I remember it, but as you say, this year I'm here in different position and maybe it's gonna help me. We never know.

Q. I wanted to ask you about Andrey Rublev because you were in a similar situation last year going very deep in many tournaments. He just won a fifth title of the year. You know him very well. Curious, why do you think he's been able to tap into that kind of consistency? What's special about what he's doing at the moment?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Well, first of all, on practice he works so hard for all his life. He has been working so hard, especially when he moved to Spain. So that's the key, I think, for any tennis player, first, especially when you're younger. Maybe when you're older you have some experience going on and stuff.

He has been practicing a lot. Some injuries were bothering him before. He didn't have injuries for a long time right now, so he's on top of his form.

A lot of confidence. We see a lot of close matches going his way, all of the tiebreaks. And, yeah, I think he didn't lose a set in Vienna, so he just amazing right now. And, yeah, as you say, it's kind of the same. So hopefully he can continue his form as much as he can. Of course not when he plays against me (smiling).

Q. Could I ask you about this year, 2020? Do you think that you have made progress this year? Do you think you're a better player than you were one year ago?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: It's tough to say, because the year was not the same. So when we came back it was different situation. It still is. You know, tournaments are still a little bit different.

It was tougher to, in one way, to schedule the season. When I say this, usually you know how the season goes. You have your preseason, then you play tournaments. You go, I don't know, you know when you go to vacation. You know when you come back from vacation.

So this season is really different. So it's tough to compare to other seasons. So talking about me as a player, I'm trying to progress every day, but of course the higher you go, the tougher it is.

I want to say that even if I lost something, I for sure won something, also. I think, yeah, as I say, I try to progress every day, and then to see, to look for the future.

Q. But do you think you are maybe closer to the top three or four guys now than you were at the start of the year, for example?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No, I think I was already close to their level. Not of course the level of consistency. The guys, they have around 60 Grand Slams together, 57.

So I'm not even talking to be even close to them, but of course in one particular match I think I can beat them.