Daniil Medvedev, déjà assuré de sa qualification pour le dernier carré du Nitto ATP Finals, s'est mesuré à Carlos Alcaraz ce vendredi lors de son troisième match de poule. En conférence de presse, quelques minutes après la rencontre, le numéro 3 mondial a avoué que le contexte du match n'a pas joué en sa faveur. Selon des propos relayées par le journal L'Équipe et Ubi Tennis, Medvedev a souligné que son niveau "d'énergie" n'était pas le même, ce qui a conduit à sa défaite en une heure et 21 minutes de jeu sur un score de 6-4, 6-4.
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00:00 In important moments, I was not good enough and he was a little bit better than me.
00:05 So it kind of feels strange because 4-4 is considered an easy score.
00:10 But I felt like I had a couple of opportunities, got maybe a little bit unlucky.
00:15 He played one unreal game in the first set on my serve and in the second set I played a bad game on my serve.
00:20 So honestly tough to say much, but looking forward to tomorrow. No other way.
00:29 Daniel, you had nothing much to play for. How about changing the system like it is in the Lever Cup?
00:34 First match counts for one point, second match for two, third match for three.
00:38 So even the replacement player would have a chance if he comes in at the second match.
00:43 Yeah, I mean tough to say. I would think more about something like last match at the same time.
00:49 But for tournament, for tickets and stuff, not easy. And like this they would have to have a second arena.
00:55 Some players would not be happy to play last match in the other arena and then come back to centre.
01:00 So tricky situation, but I think this format was here maybe since the start the same.
01:06 So I think it happens sometimes, but to be honest I had a lot to play.
01:11 You know, after the match two days ago I said, "Oh good, I'm from the first place."
01:15 But that was not the case. So I had a lot to play and I think I tried my best.
01:21 But as I say, when you don't see from TV, I don't know how it looked from TV,
01:28 but inside of me I felt like I played a good match, actually much better than against Sascha in terms of my level.
01:33 But I lost and pretty easy in a way. So tough to say for me anything to be honest at this moment.
01:41 Hi Danilo, Simon Eterno, Eurosport. So it's going to be Jannik, semi-final.
01:45 Last match in Beijing he beat you with a type of match, a lot of coming to the net, serve and volley.
01:53 In Vienna he did something different. What are you going to expect from him?
01:58 What are going to be your strategies, what you can say?
02:01 Well, first of all, at this moment he's in top form. I mean, this result proves it.
02:08 So he can do everything. As you say, he can do serve and volley,
02:12 but at the same time he can stay at the baseline and be very good.
02:15 Some drop shots, some slice, some down the line cross. He can do every shot.
02:20 And that's why he's a top player. I felt like in Vienna I made a good response to what he did in Beijing,
02:29 but I still lost. So I need to be even better, to respond better to his shots.
02:36 Here he played unbelievable, but he still lost two sets. So that's what I'm going to try to aim for.
02:44 Try to play like guys who won the set from him.
02:48 I need to definitely be at my absolute best and better than today, tomorrow.
02:53 Hey, Daniil. You had spoken in New York about when you play Carlos, you have to play like an 11 or a 12.
03:04 Is that what you were still thinking coming into this match?
03:10 Because Carlos has been a little shaky the last couple of months.
03:14 What was your mindset going in and what is your view of Carlos in the last couple of months,
03:21 given he had a three-match losing streak?
03:23 First of all, definitely the last couple of months were a little bit tougher for him.
03:27 He lost more matches than before, sometimes to maybe lower-ranked opponents than before.
03:32 But as I said, when I watched against Rublev, the beginning was tough,
03:37 and then he was playing good. And against me, the same.
03:40 There were things I could have done better in these important moments,
03:45 but there were some points where he was playing very good.
03:48 I didn't play 11 out of 10 today. I would give myself 8.5, which is a pretty good score,
03:56 but it's not enough to beat Carlos.
03:59 The mindset was the same, because as I said coming into this match,
04:04 you don't want to lose a match before playing the semis.
04:07 It's not the best feeling to lose a match. Your body reacts differently,
04:13 so now I have to regroup myself for tomorrow.
04:17 So for sure I would love to win this match, but it didn't happen.
04:21 So now I have to forget it very fast and try to focus only on tomorrow.
04:28 You sort of answered my question.
04:31 But knowing that you're into the semifinals, does that provide you
04:36 a little bit more comfort and maybe the loss is not as devastating
04:41 as it would be at a regular tournament?
04:45 The thing is that energy when you know you're into something already happened
04:52 and you have one match more to play is not the same.
04:56 But for the moment, there are sometimes parts of tennis where I don't control
05:03 the energy around myself and I try to do my best to control it as much as I can.
05:07 So by saying this, for example, two times I was even in a worse situation.
05:13 In a different situation I won two matches and was sure from the first place
05:17 I still won the two matches. But the energy that you play with is not easy to explain.
05:23 Because for example, I don't know, you don't want to dive and hurt your knee.
05:30 I never dive, so a little bit stupid example.
05:33 But that's what I'm talking about.
05:36 So at this moment, the only thing that is left, I have a match quite soon,
05:41 less than 24 hours to play tomorrow at 2.30.
05:44 So I have to only, after I leave this room, start thinking,
05:49 "Okay, how do I beat Janik tomorrow?" Because I for sure feel bad for Sascha.
05:54 He was looking forward to tonight's match.
05:57 But yeah, I was one time in this situation, I think Rafa beat Stefanos,
06:01 and I was playing Sascha. And if Stefanos beat Rafa,
06:05 I could still be hoping to beat Sascha in two sets, long story.
06:09 But Stefanos lost, so I went into the match, I was a little bit like,
06:12 "Well, I don't really have much energy."
06:15 So yeah, I tried my best, but I need to do better tomorrow.
06:19 I have a double question. First of all, it looks like you are not the age of Djokovic,
06:24 but it looks like a new generation against an old generation, almost.
06:30 What do you think about this, if you are excited?
06:33 Which is the biggest difference between someone like you and these young players?
06:39 And second one, it looks like a lot of people are attacking you more,
06:44 going to the net. What you can do in the next evolution of your game?
06:50 Because you do a lot of things, you work a lot, we can see.
06:53 What you can do to block a little bit of this nice perspective?
06:59 Yeah, so first of all, about guys coming to the net.
07:03 First of all, those who do it, because I think it's a kind of good tactic against me,
07:08 but you have to be good at the net.
07:10 For example, Sascha, for me, he's a very good player at the net,
07:14 but Carlos was able today to do some sliding wallies,
07:19 which maybe there are two or three players in the world who can do it.
07:22 So Sascha was going to the net a lot, but I passed him a lot.
07:25 So I know how to do passing shots, and I will work it even more,
07:29 because maybe more guys will come to the net.
07:31 But to beat me just to come to the net, not enough.
07:35 I will pass, and you have to be really good at the net.
07:39 So if guys continue to do it, and I really see I struggle, I'm going to find a way.
07:46 For the moment, I don't see this.
07:48 Yes, some guys can do it. Yes, sometimes I succeed, but sometimes I lose also.
07:52 Carlos, against me in the US Open, was going to the net I think 50 times,
07:56 and he lost a match. So same with O'Connell, for example.
08:00 So that's the first part.
08:02 And the second part, for sure, right now we have, for sure we can call them next-gen.
08:07 I mean, they're already here, but they're still super young.
08:10 Yannick, Holger and Carlos probably at this moment at the top,
08:15 then for sure Ben Shelton, Artur Fiss, guys like these, they can also come there.
08:20 I think because they're at the top, there's not much difference between me,
08:26 even Novak and them.
08:28 The difference is that Novak has 24 grand slams,
08:31 but when they play one-on-one, as we saw, he can lose.
08:35 So there's not much difference.
08:37 If I compare it to myself, the difference is that I started playing top tennis
08:41 maybe at 23, I think I was, when it was 2019.
08:45 They started doing it at like 19.
08:48 So pretty impressive. At 19 I was probably 600 in the world.
08:52 So that's impressive, but that's why I also like my journey,
08:55 because I was not like them.
08:57 I had to slowly, slowly dig my way up, and now I'm here and I'm really happy.