ROLEX PARIS MASTERS

October 31, 2021

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. When I had a chance to speak to you recently, I was just wondering, what is the latest position with you and the Australian Open and your thoughts about playing there and being able to play there?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, look, I want to play there. First, the rules were that you can come there, if you're not vaccinated, quarantine for 14 days. So now it's not the case. So it's actually easy. We're going to see in Australia who is going to play or not. Of course, again, you can say you're injured, which can be true sometimes, but I'm willing to play Australia and that's all I have to say.

Q. Obviously you have had success at the end of the season before, especially last year winning the finals. What do you think is the most important part for you about playing indoors? Is it focusing on your serve? What is it in particular you're looking for?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think, to be honest, the biggest part in the end of the season, tough, long season, is mental and physical. Yeah, physically you need to stay strong. A lot of tournaments behind your back. Sometimes without maybe enough of physical preparation just because it goes so fast, the season. So I feel like I'm in good shape in these two sections, if we can call it like this. I think that's the most important.

And then of course indoor tennis, yeah, you need to serve good. I feel like serve and return are the most important parts, because then in the game we all know what we have to do. We all have our style of play. So I want to say just a little bit less important maybe than on outdoors where there is going to be more rallies because you're going to have more time to return.

Indoors your serve can be really important, kind of like on grass courts even I want to say. Especially that Paris is quite fast court. I don't know how it's going to be in Turin, but London was quite fast, also, so let's see how it's going to be in Turin.

Q. Obviously you're focusing, it's a very big tournament for you in Paris, a Masters 1000. Does any part of you follow what's going on in the race, just out of curiosity given there are a couple weeks left in that to see who you might have to play in Turin, or are you just totally locked in on...

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I do follow the race, but not because I care who to play, honestly, but because it's just so fun that four guys have big chances. Casper just went a little bit in front, so I think he has quite good chances, but it's never sure, especially with still two tournaments coming up, Stockholm included, and of course Paris being the biggest one. They can all make big points. They can all lose first rounds, and we have some other guys even behind them who can still win Paris-Bercy and get there.

So, yeah, it's super interesting, and I'm sure we're gonna see all of them in Stockholm, and I think that's when the race is interesting. So again, I just want to see who I play, but I don't really support anybody in this race, but it's just really fun to watch.

Q. I didn't quite understand your first answer. I don't know if this is what Paul was trying to ask, as well, but are you saying that you think you will be playing now in Australia; is that correct? Did I understand that right?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Um, you know, the thing is that I always said it, that I really like Novak's answer about this. I want to keep my medical, no matter if it's about vaccine, leg injury, head injury, whatever, I want to keep my medical private for a reason, because I feel like tennis is such a brutal sport where you're always one on one against your opponent, and any information you give him can go against you.

So I decided at one moment of my career, okay, I'm going to keep all of my medical, unless there is something obvious, so for example, if you're playing Australia, it's obvious you're vaccinated. So that's why I said I'm willing to play Australia, but I won't say if you'll see me there, but we're gonna see in January.

Q. With the Davis Cup finishing on December 5, how difficult will it be for players to prepare for Australia?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Super tough. Will be honest, in this case, I kind of support Novak's position that it's too tough obviously with all the licenses, a lot of tournaments, nobody is going to say, okay, I'm okay to move my tournament one week forward so the season finishes one week earlier.

But, yeah, we're probably the only top sport that is playing 11 months a year, because as you say, it's 5th December, final of Davis Cup, I'm playing for Russia, so we obviously want to and we have a good chance with our team to be there or close to this date, which doesn't really matter one or two days. And around 26th or 27th we're going to go to Australia.

If you want to prepare well the ATP Cup, which is another big team tournament, which you want to play for your country, and it's super challenging for your body and for your head, because it's actually tough decision to make. So after you finish Davis Cup, do I take one or one week and a half off somewhere on the islands or even in the mountains, doesn't matter, but then if I count it right, you're gonna have like two-and-a-half weeks, maybe even two weeks, of the offseason to prepare for Australian Open, which is obviously not enough as a good offseason especially if you're young. I still take myself as a young sportsman.

Or you decide to take, let's say, three days off, then you have a little bit more of preseason, can prepare better Australian Open, but not sure if you can keep up with all the season that is coming that is going to be again 11 months because it won't change.

So it's a very tough topic where I could speak for hours, and I actually have no real answer, but, yeah, it would be better if the season would be a bit shorter.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. You speak French so well, so coming back here in Paris, and there will be a crowd this time. What kind of impression does it give you?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I like to play in France, especially after the French Open. It was fun. But I do remember well that the crowd was actually cheering me on. I hope that, you know, it was a pity that they weren't there for the final. It's unusual, I have to say, because I actually played a lot of Frenchmen in France, and I lost and of course it's normal that they should actually defend the Frenchman.

I don't know if it's 100% or 80%, I don't know the capacity. I hope that there will be a lot of people, and I hope that they will be in my favor. I hope that we will play together. It's a real pleasure to be back here. My aim of course is to play well, and to notch wins, because this is how you get actually your crowd supporting you. I'm delighted to be back.

Q. You could end up No. 1. Is that an objective?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I have three tournaments ahead of me, two tournaments where there are points to grasp. Honestly, I want to win every tournament, because I know that I can do it. Maybe less on other surfaces but this is my aim anyway.

I managed to do that last year. It was wonderful but it's not easy. There are a lot of wonderful players. Zverev is in great shape, Novak is always a tough player, he's always a favorite when he plays. I want to play well. I need Novak to lose, as well. It's not only -- it's not only the fact I need to play well, but for Turin, if I see a small opportunity, maybe I have to keep it into consideration, but it will be enough for the rest. For Grand Slams you have to keep up the good work.

Q. You were given a PSG shirt. Is that one of your favorite teams?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I love soccer, or football. I love Bayern, this is my favorite team. It's the only club in the world that will give me emotions but I love soccer.

When I see famous people, Manchester United, and so on, when I see famous people, you have comments saying, How is it possible to have people wearing a Manchester United shirt, for instance? And they say, Why? I say, Well, they play well, they have great matches, they have great opportunities to have a goal at the 85th minute, for instance. Well, why shouldn't I wear the shirt of PSG, because it's one of the greatest clubs in the world. If I see other matches of other teams, then I would be delighted if they give me a shirt with my name on it.

Once again, the only club of which I am a fan or a true fan is Bayern. I have nothing against the others, and I enjoyed watching PSG.

Q. On the French Riviera, there was a training session between you and Novak. Can you talk about this. Can you actually be serious when you play a training session like this, or was it just for communication purposes?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: It's very serious. Since I have become top 10, I haven't played him in training sessions. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know if he had trained a lot or not.

I had anticipated this as a good training session and it was wonderful. We played for two hours, one set, and it was great. Then we talked for 15, 20 minutes, I love talking with him. I think I can say that he's a friend. I hope. It's up to him to say so.

It was very pleasurable. We had a great time, especially if we talk about tennis and we had a great chat afterwards. It's really seldom that No. 1 and No. 2 have a training session together, and I think that for the academy it was a great event for them, and I loved the training session.