“You said before the match that you had to find a way to play better against Carlos Alcaraz, is that what you managed to do?
I managed to play better. I played well in the four sets but you have to be 11/10 against him and I was at this level in the three sets that I won. The third (which he lost), I was at 9.5 or 10/10 but we see that it’s not enough against him. I managed to play really well, serve well, touch the lines in important moments… I’m very happy but the tournament is not over.
It seems that with the noise in the audience getting louder and louder, you tried to play even faster at the end to silence the noise. Is that what you were trying to do?
I don’t even know what I was doing in the end. You never want to serve through the noise but I’m not someone who likes to bounce the ball 15 times because it takes me out of my rhythm. If I’ve bounced it three times and I feel it calm down a little, I’ll serve. Maybe that’s what happened or maybe I was also a little nervous and that’s why I went faster. In general, with this pressure, I can make doubles but also big serves. And once you get a match point, who cares?
« [Novak] will be ten times better than that day, so I must be ten times better than that day”
Daniil Medvedev on the final against Novak Djokovic.
How do you judge your level of defense this evening? This must be one of the matches where you ran the most…
It was good because on certain points that I lost, I told myself that I had still gone for balls that were really hard to put back. Which meant I was going to be able to do it again and maybe he was going to miss or I was going to make a better shot. I was in the zone. When I’m like that, I’m a great defender. Carlos plays so fast, there’s no time to watch what he’s doing. Every time I was a little slower, I managed to do better behind.
How can you use your 2021 final won against Novak Djokovic to prepare for Sunday’s final, also against the Serb?
The only way I can use it is to think that Novak is never the same after a defeat. He is different, he will have a different mentality. That’s why he won 23 Grand Slams and I don’t know how many Masters 1000s. So I have to go on court knowing that he will be ten times better than that day and that therefore, if I still want to beat him, I have to be ten times better than that day. This is what I will try to do. »
