Daniil Medvedev beat Alexander Kovacevic 3-0 in the first round of Wimbledon 2024 and will face Frenchman Alexandre Muller in the next round. At the post-match press conference, the Russian tennis player spoke of his increased confidence on grass and his desire to go all the way in a grass-court Major. Medvedev showed his best result at Wimbledon last year when he reached the semi-finals, where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz.
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“The road will not be easy, but I will try to reach the end”
— Have you gained more confidence on the grass? “I have more confidence in the fact that my high level on grass is higher than on clay. But of course, I have more confidence on the hard court, where I know I can win no matter what. But last year I played very well at Wimbledon, today I played a good match. I feel great and I’m looking forward to it. We must continue with the same spirit. I know the road will not be easy, but I will try to go to the end.
— Does last year’s Wimbledon give you confidence? — If I’m not mistaken, before last season I only reached the fourth round at Wimbledon. And I always felt good, but sometimes Hurkacz or someone else runs into a strong serve and you can lose several tiebreaks. Last year we managed to reach the semi-finals step by step. We should have played much better against Carlos. To be honest, I lost to him easily. So last year definitely gives confidence for this year. I know I have to go step by step and then, against the best players, I have to play better. And I’m ready to do it.
— In the later stages, the grass is a bit different than at the start of the tournament. Which one do you like best? — It’s hard to say, I think it’s different every year, sometimes faster, sometimes slower. Over time, bad bounces start along the line, because we trample on it there. In a way, it’s harder to play in the later stages, but at the same time, at that time you already gain confidence and start playing better. I’ve only played here once in the semi-finals, it’s hard for me to say. I can say that Court 1 is always very different from Centre Court. This is strange. I will say that Centre Court is slower and the bounces are higher. Although maybe I’m wrong. Last year it was hard for me to get used to this difference in the semi-finals. I joked that before the tournament I played on Centre Court and last year on Court 1. I hope this will give me confidence on Centre Court.
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“Five sets is spectacular, but I’m leaning more towards three sets.”
—What can you say about your serve, have you trained it a lot? – A lot. I think I served very well at Roland Garros. On grass I would like to see it be better, but nothing. I have been able to improve my serve more than once during the tournaments. Today I think the serve was good, I haven’t looked at the statistics yet, but it seems like the percentage was high. I could be more precise, but nothing. I will improve my serve as the tournament progresses, my shoulder feels good and this is the most important thing.
—What can you say about serving from below? – First of all, I never had anything against her. The only thing is that the player usually hits the ball five times before serving, and if someone decides to serve from below, he immediately serves to fool you. It’s debatable whether you should hit the ball five times before underserving, but that’s a slightly different question. And sometimes I serve from below myself, I think it’s an honest tactic. But it has its limits, which is why no one uses it too often. You can surprise someone like this once or twice, but if you try a third time, it will be difficult to win a point.
On grass, if you can make an ace on the first serve, I prefer an ace. But who knows, maybe I’ll serve it just once so I can catch it.
— What do you think about the fact that there are five sets in the majors, even though there are three sets everywhere? “I have always said that I fully understand why this is so, it is spectacular and good. If you ask me, I would prefer three sets. But this is my personal opinion, I don’t even have good reasons, I just want to. But really, five sets are much more stressful both physically and mentally. For example, this Australian Open was especially memorable because there I won many matches in five sets.
– You said there are no good reasons, but what are there? — Five sets are much harder on the body and there is a higher risk of injury. I heard a lot of people say on TV that a crazy five-set session for five hours is amazing and will go down in history. But if it is not the closest match for four sets and three and a half hours, a lot of people stop watching for moments, they go in and out. On TV it is not easy because you don’t know exactly when the match will start, because there are other matches before. Same for the players. So I wouldn’t mind three sets. But at the same time who knows? Maybe with three sets, others would have been record holders. But at the same time, that is what makes five sets so great. So I am somewhere in the middle, but I am leaning more towards three sets.
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“At the victorious US Open, I went into my room and reviewed the highlights of my matches”
— What did you do to gain more confidence on the pitch? “For me, it’s all about repetition. The first week on the greens I hit the ball too late, especially with my wide swing. I hit the ball often into the net, the rhythm is not very good. Very different from the ground. I see in training how some players come in after a good performance at Roland Garros, like Alex de Minaur, who won in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. I can’t do that, I need time to adapt, so I peak at Wimbledon or the week before. I worked a lot on movement, working on different muscles – the lower back, the buttocks – so that they wouldn’t hurt too much. Otherwise you can injure your lower back. I worked a lot on my serve and just doing repetitions, just hitting the ball, trying to find a rhythm.
— Carlos recently said that he watches his best games to remember how he can play. Is that what you do? – Sometimes. But I am that kind of person, sometimes I do things, sometimes I don’t. A couple of times when I won important tournaments, at the victorious US Open for example, I would come to my room after the match and go through the highlights to remember what good shots I had made. But at some tournaments I didn’t do that and still won. On grass it’s the same, I’m more focused on myself on the court than watching videos. This year on clay I rewatched last year’s Rome and observed what exactly I did to win the tournament. Did this help? I don’t know, the results were different. So sometimes I do it, sometimes I don’t, it depends on my mood and my free time.
— Do you see good games from other players? – Sometimes. If I come home… Although now I’ll probably turn on football. I can put football on the TV and tennis on the laptop. Or tennis on TV if there is no football. Not on purpose, but if there is a game and it is good, why not?
