“I will try to enjoy this period in my life longer”

On Sunday in the finals of the Erste Bank Open, the 500 tournament of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) with a prize fund of €2.4 million, the Russian Daniil Medvedev won his fifteenth career title by beating Canadian Denis Shapovalov. In an interview with a Kommersant correspondent Evgeny Fedyakov the third number of the world ranking explained how he managed to add this fall, spoke about the emotions associated with the replenishment in the family, and promised not to slow down at the last tournaments of the season in Paris and Turin.

– Before the start of the tournament in Vienna, did you keep in mind the race for getting into the Nitto ATP Finals, in which you, in theory, had a fairly strong position?

– Yes. After the injury in Astana, I most likely would not have gone to Vienna if I knew that I had already qualified for Turin. True, here I was thinking not about the distribution of tickets, but about how to win in each specific match. And I am very glad that on Saturday, having reached the final, I solved the problem of getting to the final tournament. It was important.

– Due to what did you manage to break the resistance of Denis Shapovalov in the final, who acted simply brilliantly in the first set?

– Even lagging behind in the score, I tried to keep him at arm’s length. When he led with two breaks in the first set, I managed to win back one of them, and in the last game, his serve was “exactly” twice. The strategy here is quite simple. When you constantly put pressure on an opponent, sometimes you can achieve that at some point the level of his game will decrease. So this time it did. Denis slowed down a little, but I, on the contrary, raised my level and due to this I was able to win.

– On the way to the final, you did not give up a single game on your serve. Do you remember 2019 now, when you played just as well in October, winning unconditionally in St. Petersburg and Shanghai?

– It is very difficult to compare your tennis, going back so far. You can’t remember exactly what rhythm you played three years ago, what tactics you followed and what feelings you experienced. So I’m just glad that first in Astana, and then here in Vienna, I managed to show my best game this season, unless, of course, taking into account reaching the final of the Australian Open, which was back in January.

— You have already said that in early October in Astana you made some changes to your game that radically improved its quality. Can you explain what exactly you mean?

I changed tactics a bit. We can say that for a while he returned to what it was before, becoming a little less aggressive. Perhaps this is exactly the kind of reboot I needed. In any case, having my classic defensive game as a base, I again managed to increase my aggressiveness. That is, I again began to do well what I started to do last season.

– The Vienna title, your biggest since winning last year’s US Open, you won two and a half weeks after you became a father. Was it a coincidence, or did having a daughter really affect you that much psychologically?

“I can say one thing about this. I am very glad that Dasha and I (Medvedev’s wife.— “b”) had a daughter. And when you’re happy in life, you’re happy on the court, it’s really easier for you to play. I will not throw loud phrases that now I am going to win all the tournaments in a row. But now for me 100% everything turned out well. My daughter was born, I managed to recover from the injury and won, showing a good level. I will try to enjoy this period in my life as long as possible.

– The title of the first racket of the world this year you cannot regain even theoretically. Do you have a desire to compete for second place at the end of the season?

– In any case, I need to try my best to perform at the remaining tournaments in Paris and Turin. From my own experience I can say that the more points I can win there, the higher my chances will be to return to the first place, which I, of course, want. After all, the current results will help me for almost the entire next season.

— From Vienna, you are going to the Rolex Paris Masters, where you won the year before last, and reached the final last year. You will have to play there almost from the sheet. Do you expect to be able to quickly adapt there?

Yes, I think I’ll be ready. True, the network in Paris is very strong. I know that there I can beat any opponent and you can lose to almost anyone. So I will try to do my best to prepare as best as possible.