US OPEN

September 6, 2023

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

D. MEDVEDEV/A. Rublev

6-4, 6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: A tough three sets. Two hours and 48 minutes. Come from behind in many instances. The conditions. Now moving on to the Final Four. Put this victory in context for us.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, tough, because I could talk a lot, brutal conditions for both of us. I mean, I don't know if it could be seen through the camera, because we are sweating so much and use a lot of towels, I have no skin left on my nose here, and, like, here it's red, but it's not because of the sun so it's not like you're burned but I have no skin left. I just saw Andrey in the locker room and his face very red, and it's also not because of the sun so I guess it's the same. That tells everything, like we left everything out there.

The thing is that even if it would go further I think we would still leave even more. Then I don't think I had anything left but if the match would go on I would find something more. And the only thing that is a little bit, let's call it dangerous, is that the question is how far could we go? Maybe we could go five sets and it would be -- when I say "fine," yeah, we would struggle a little bit next day and it would be fine, or we have a person in Yibing Wu who fell down and in Washington could be hot.

That's a question, yeah, that's a question mark.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Is there anything you would like to see change within the way the tournament is run with tennis generally in these sort of conditions?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: The thing is that I'm not sure what can we do. Because probably we cannot stop the tournament for four days because it's been what, three, four days it's been brutal like this, because then it basically ruins everything, the TV, even the tickets, everything. It ruins everything.

So I don't think this could be done. Could we go to three sets when the conditions are like this? Also some guys are not going to be happy, no. You lose the first two sets and the match is done and you're, like, Damn I wanted to come back.

And at the same time I'm telling because maybe I'm going to finish my career and nothing is gonna happen and then it's fine, then I'm talking for nothing, but the question is we don't want something to happen and then say, Oh, my God, Medvedev said this a couple of years ago.

But I don't have the solution, because even if we say let's play all the matches at night maybe on different stadiums, we saw Sinner-Zverev, they were not much better than us today with Andrey just because even at night New York can be really hot and humid.

I don't have real solutions but it's still better to speak a little bit about it before something happens. It's always better.

Q. You were quick when Darren asked you about your form. You said 10 out of 10. Now, if it comes to a clash with Alcaraz on Friday, is 10 out of 10 Medvedev good enough to beat Alcaraz in New York City?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: It needs to be 11 out of 10 because yeah, that's how Carlos is, very strong. Even here I think he lost one set but I watch some matches, sometimes on breakpoints he runs for the passing shots. Incredible stuff.

So let's see tonight. Let's see how Sascha recovered. I don't know. It's going to be interesting to see, because he was not in good shape two days ago.

Could be an interesting match. I think Sascha beat him last time in Roland Garros. So yeah, could be interesting. But if I play Carlos, you know, two last times I lost, let's call it, pretty easy.

I'm someone who fights a lot, so I want to try to be better, and I need to be 11 out of 10 to try to beat him.

Q. What did you do from the time you left the court until now in order to try and start to feel normal? Can you talk through your routine, what did you eat, what did you drink, how much, things like that?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, it's true that I'm feeling kind of okay now. I'm just pretty exhausted. Let's say, yeah, do couple of interviews here and there straightaway, and it was tough. I was with an ice towel there. Everything was foggy, like I couldn't see clearly. Because the match is over, so the adrenaline is not there anymore.

So I was, like, a little bit shaky. Then I come to the locker room and that's the toughest part because you kind of want to just sit there for hours. But you know that if you do it, it's not a good recovery.

So I sat there for, like, 10, 15 minutes, went and did a quick ice bath. Changed. Went to eat. But had, I don't know how you call it in English, when sugar blood, sugar levels go up. I started sweating, my head started turning. I said to my team, Please bring me any food. I was sitting there like this sweating like hell even with the AC on, and they brought some food and then I felt better. Yeah, that's how it is sometimes.

Q. How would you describe as a former champion here the way your level of play right now is compared to when you won it all? You mentioned it will take 11 out of 10 to beat Alcaraz. Right now the way you're playing, how would you assess its worth versus Alcaraz?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Tough to say before you meet him, so I want to think that it's enough, because I'm playing amazing. I said it on the court. I feel like starting from the third set against O'Connell, guys have been playing brutally good against me.

Like today Andrey, when he started the match, I think he won 10 points in a row and hitting on the line. I was like, okay, I'm going to have to be better than I am right now. It was the same pretty every match. De Minaur threw me off the court 6-2. So I was like, okay, I need to be better.

That's what I'm really proud of. Sometimes it's not easy to come back in the matches, to stay there with the tough conditions. Andrey and Alex are probably one of the best physical guys on tour, and I managed to make them suffer. I suffered myself also but I managed to make them suffer. All of this is good for the confidence. Is good for next matches.

If I compare myself to two years ago, I would say definitely not worse. It was enough two years ago. But to me, to continue this way, two more matches to go.

Q. You're winning 49% of your return games so far at the US Open.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Wow.

Q. I think you're having one of the best seasons from the return side in general. Is that your opinion? Is that how you see it? If so, what are the reasons for that?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Always tough to say reasons, because I always worked return since I was 18 years old. Didn't change. Again, changed my strings this year, so the ball goes a little bit kind of easier from the strings.

Sometimes you always question, you know, you come after the match, and usually US Open summer is great for me, with previous strings. So after Toronto and Cincinnati, I was, like, maybe I should change just for US Open summer to the old strings. Finally, maybe not.

This could be the return because I return from deep so this could be the reason my ball goes even easier through the court and troubles my opponents. Or just I'm playing better, and running better. I don't know. So the reason I don't know, but it's great to hear that the return is working well.

Q. I'd like to ask you a very general question. You have been playing this wonderful sport your whole life. Traveled the world. If you had to step back and say what this sport, what tennis has taught you, the one or two lessons it's taught you...

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: This will be not one or two. This could be like 55. Let's try to find something most important.

Tennis, tennis, tennis. I play it every day. It's so tough to answer. I try to find positive things, and the best positive thing about tennis, and this could be, I think, very well used in life, is that everything can change very fast.

You know, you can lose, like, this year in Australia is a big example. I lost third round. I was feeling awful. First time out of top 10 in maybe three, four years. My game was not there. I was, like, oh, my God, I'm feeling bad about my tennis right now. Four tournaments, five tournaments, four titles, something like this, and I'm on top of the world. I'm like, wow, great feeling. That's how tennis is. I think that's how sometimes it can be in life, many things can happen, can be disappointed. Then next day is a new day and something good can happen.

This is going to be one lesson, let's try to find a second one. Fight, fight till the end, I would say. And I don't know if this can be used in life, but in tennis, you have to fight till the end. I lost some matches where the other guys were fighting till the end, and I'm, like, maybe I didn't do enough, and I won some where, like today, I was fighting till the last point. In my mind, because I had what, four or five match points, when it came to deuce, I was, like, oh, my God, I want to finish this match, I want to win it. But already I was preparing myself if it's 5-All, I have to be there. I have to be there the next point, and that's, yeah, that's what tennis is.

Q. You just said you'd give yourself 11 out of 10 to beat Alcaraz. What makes him so difficult as an opponent to break? What is that one extra you would need?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I would say what makes him that difficult is just that he has every shot. He has extra power to other players. So it's true many players probably I would go with 97%, it's tough for them to hit the ball through me, like I'm always there, always running, always trying to get it back.

He can do it just because he has this power, we see it 100 mile forehand winner and stuff like this. Some players, even if we try, we cannot do it.

So that's one thing he's good from forehand, backhand, he can slice, dropshot. So he has every shot in the game. But again, tennis, you can always beat players. People beat Novak. People even beat Rafa on clay, which is almost impossible but some players do.

It's the same about Carlos. Every time I will be playing against him I want to try to win, so I said it one time already, I need to serve better than I did the previous matches. I need to serve on the line if I need to. I need to put my shots on the line and stuff like this. I need to be there 100% of the time and be better.

Q. You talked about your love of F1, and with how the heat was today, did you feel like you were Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton in a hot car in a cockpit and still was able to dominate? And Sascha mentioned, he was surprised that you were a Bayern Munich fan and he didn't know that. That's something where with you having the rematch against him in Cincinnati, if you face him, how you have the head-to-head, how you feel about that.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: First of all, I think Formula 1 drivers used to say I think Malaysia Grand Prix is brutal, if I'm not wrong. They say it's like after the race, and you could see the Netflix series, they go out like us today, like dripping. I will be honest, I was very happy to win the match, but, like, I almost couldn't express the happiness. I was, like, just let me go somewhere, sit somewhere, just think about my life in general, stuff like this.

And so, yeah, I do some karting and it's very tough, but I don't know how it is in the Formula 1 car in Malaysia. I think every sport is a struggle from time to time, and sometimes it's easier.

And talking about Sascha, yeah, last time, you know, managed to win, I would say, many times, even this year against him. But almost every match we play is close. It's the same, Cincinnati I think was 4-3 breakpoint for me. If I do it, I think I win the match. But he was good. He managed to win it. That's how tennis is. If I play against him, yeah.

Bayern Munich fans, but just need to be physically, mentally, tennis-wise my best also.