US OPEN

September 2, 2026

Daniil Medvedev

Press Conference

D. MEDVEDEV/S. Gorzny

6-1, 6-3, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. Straight-set win. Your thoughts on your play this afternoon.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think was quite good, good level. He raised his level in the third, so I'm happy that I managed, you know, to keep fighting, to stay tough. Was good serving this play from me. Happy about it and looking forward.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. With today's bird episode, I'm wondering what your thoughts are on maybe the top four or five unusual episodes you've had at the US Open?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Oh, would be a lot. This would be definitely in the top five. But the thing is that when they came in, I thought, okay, the referee is going to stop the point, and he let it play, like, Okay, let's play. And the moment I hit the winner, he was, like, Stop, stop, stop.

It's okay. It happens. But top five, of course, I don't want to say it out loud, but when I did what I did against Feliciano Lopez, and then the next match, for sure, is like No. 2 when I got booed from the start, which is actually deserved, in a way, but I used it to try to win to try to continue tournament.

No. 3 would be final -- you said unusual or any?

Q. Unusual.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Unusual.

Q. You can take however long you'd like to talk.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I would hope beating Novak was unusual, because it's not easy and he was going for a calendar slam, so let's go with this one.

Let's find one more. Maybe, what could it be? No, let's keep this four episodes. Maybe there was something else. I forgot.

Q. If you think of something later, you can...

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, sure.

Q. We know the answer, if you're forgetting. Bonzi?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I mean, is it unusual? Oh, yeah, the photographer thing, yeah. I was thinking about the whole match as a whole where I was not good enough in some moments, but the photographer thing is definitely unusual.

He was running between first and second serve. I still believe it should be a second serve regarding, like, if you see the match, and I do believe that if it would be a second serve, I would lose the set 6-4 probably on this point. And there would not be any other story regarding this match, but it's definitely unusual, yeah (smiling).

Q. A quick two-part on how you evaluate someone who is a real contender going through this tournament. The first year you got to the final, you had a great summer. I would have felt more comfortable picking you then, but a lot of players say, no, Grand Slam is different, doesn't matter what happened two months ago, two weeks ago. And part 2, specifically with Carlos who hasn't played, if you were not in the draw, how would you evaluate whether, yes, I really think this guy can win without coming in with preparation?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I think someone like Carlos, or Novak, as well, even if he's 39 years old, I mean, he was in the semis at Wimbledon and final of Australian Open, so yeah, he lost here, but it can happen.

Whenever people like this are in the draw, they are the favorites. We have no idea how Carlos' wrist is going to feel, body is going to feel going later into the tournament, but he's definitely a top favorite for the title.

Usually it's a mix of things. It's of course how you played Cincinnati, how you played in general in summer, but we just saw Arthur Fils losing, Brendan Nakashima losing, they had a great summer.

Then you try to see the matches that you play here. I'm happy with my first two matches, so I am looking forward to try to continue improving my form.

Grand Slam, every tournament is a new story, and I want to try to write a good one.

Q. I'm wondering if you could analyze Sebastian's game and what you thought about it.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, for sure it's first time I see him, right. I did watch a bit with Collignon, but you know, it's still when you see someone playing three years on tour, it's a bit different than when you see one match.

Kind of, I'd call it a bit classic, in a way, American, tries to take the forehand, quite good serve, solid serve, tries to go to the net. Probably, yeah, a lot of people in college play like this. Then when they come on tour, they try to adapt tiny bit.

Yeah, first two sets, I don't know if he was tired from the previous match, which of course was a long one, or if he was just not getting used to my game maybe. For sure, he was missing a bit too much and stuff like this. Third set was a battle. Third set was some crazy points.

I still had a lot of breakpoints, so I feel like I deserved to win the set. But it was a great battle and a great level from him.

Q. Maybe you have been asked this before, but in Cincinnati you were on Tennis Channel, and you have such knowledge about baseball. How come? Why the Reds, the sorry Reds?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: It's super easy. I went to their match last year. I lost first round, so I had a lot of time to practice and stuff like this. And the last day before leaving to New York, I'm like, actually to my team back at the time was Gilles, Let's go watch some baseball.

And I absolutely loved it. It was actually a great match with two extra innings. They lost, unfortunately, but the atmosphere was crazy because it was Saturday. On weekdays it's a bit less, but I didn't know at the time, so I came on Saturday. Lucky day, I guess.

I was, like, this is so cool. I know in New York, with a Grand Slam, you're not going to have time. When we play Indian Wells, et cetera, it's not the season yet, so I was, like, I have to be a Cincinnati fan. So every year I come there, I'm going to have so much fun watching them.

They were the first team I watched, the first team I supported doing this match, so I was, like, it's a good story to support them. I actually really like the sport the way it plays. I enjoy watching it. I feel interested watching it.

Yeah, I watched. I try to watch all their matches.

Q. A question about Gael Monfils winning his first round yesterday at 40 years old. Did you see the match, and can you reflect on this? Are you surprised or impressed? Can you imagine yourself in the same position at the same age?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Never know. Never say never.

I would say probably not. Probably I will stop before. But again, never say never. Like, if you have the ability to play like Gael -- of course his ranking, he's not top 10 -- he can still play some good tennis.

I didn't watch the match yesterday because I played early today, so I was having dinner during his match. I just followed the score.

It's incredible that at 40 years old, he can beat, you know, the top guys, because in Grand Slam, no matter who you play, they're all top guys.

He's super fun, for sure. Tennis is going to miss him, for sure. The more matches he can win before he retires, the better it is, because the more tennis and the crowd can see him play.

It's incredible for sure how physically he's still fit. I saw the point in mixed doubles where he got these balls. Incredible at 40 years old to do this. So it's just super fun.

Q. While it's always challenging to play someone for the first time, what adjustments, if any, did you make in the third as he grew more confident, especially with the backhand slice and the dropshot?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I mean, I felt like I played pretty good the first two sets. Again, as I say, he was missing, as well. But I feel like I just needed to do what I was doing, because I was serving well.

Finally, I didn't have a breakpoint to save till the last game where I could have done a bit better maybe to not have this breakpoint against me.

On his serve, I was still getting chances even with him playing better, so I felt like at this point, yes, I see that he's playing better. If I would lose the set, probably I would need to adjust a bit more, but I was still getting breakpoints, still kind of being in front on my serve, so I just wanted to continue, stay tough, stay solid.

In the end, that's what happened. I broke him in important moment. He made some mistakes, I made some passing shots, and managed to win.

No real adjustments. Just staying solid.

Q. I want to ask about content creators and influencers. The USTA started to accreditate some last year and even more this year on the upside to bring more fans from other sports or in general to tennis, but also there are a few downsides. There are some videos from content creators using big lights during play on center court and stuff. I just want in general your view on this development.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Actually, super easy. I think the more we try to raise awareness about tennis, the better it is, the more popular the sport is. For sure there is some downside, like maybe more people are going to recognize you on the street and it's going to be tougher to go to restaurant.

But still, in general, the more the sport grows, the better it is. So I would say this way: I trust USTA with what they are doing.

For sure, if it disturbs during the play, like if you see the light or something, well, you always say to the referee, can be sometimes challenging, like if during the point this happens. But I'm pretty sure as well, even them, you know, maybe one time they do it, and then someone tells them not to do it.

I think more, a lot of more upside than downside, so go for it.

Q. Maybe a follow-up question. Craig Tiley said he wants to transform this tournament into a tennis Disneyland. Do you like this development? Is this something that tennis needs?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I didn't talk to Craig, because -- I like Craig. I would say a bit like I said now, I trust Craig. I think he does a lot of good things for tennis. I think the word "tennis Disneyland," I would not like it because it's still a sport, you know, where we fight in a way for our life.

You ask any player after the tournament, ask him after he loses, because when he wins, he's not going to tell you, but if we have some pain, for sure, yes. Maybe if you're 20 years old, no. But for sure we fight for our life here.

"Tennis Disneyland," this word I don't like, but I think when he says it, he doesn't mean that we're going to make a fun thing about it. It's just growing the sport, growing tennis, so I think it's good.