MY ACCOUNT
Daniil Medvedev feels he may have been at a disadvantage in his opening match at the Paris Masters, going down 6-4 2-6 7-5 against Alex de Minaur in the second round.
While it was De Minaur’s second match of the week, having fought his way through the first round in a three-set win against Sebastian Korda, Medvedev had the bye straight through to round two.
He pointed to that fact when discussing what he thinks went wrong for him, while also crediting De Minaur for rising to the occasion during big points.
In his post-match press conference, Medvedev said he did not feel he played poorly, but De Minaur was just in terrific touch.
“I think he played pretty well,” he said. “I think even in the third set I had the break up, and he played an amazing game on my serve where I served only first serves, and he made some winners.
“Actually, I think I had my chances to win the match – but didn’t use them – and he managed to keep enough pressure on me at the end of the match to win.
“But that’s tennis, you know. Like I just watched Felix [Auger-Aliassime] win [in a close third-set tiebreaker] and I’m going, ‘whoever loses this match is gonna hate tennis for a few days’… two people, only one can win.”
When asked if his victory at the Vienna Open – where he beat Denis Shapovalov in the final just four days ago – had him feeling not at his sharpest on such a quick turnaround, he admitted it was a factor.
“Well, I had a lot of matches under my belt back to back, and it’s never easy,” he said. “The positive thing is that you feel confident.
“My impression, if you win the first match of the week, that’s where you really have a lot of feelings and you have a confidence boost for the next match.
“But it’s the first match that is the toughest. It was a tough match. Alex played very well. Had he played a bit less well, I would have won. But he did his job, you know, and he won.”
Medvedev will be part of the field contesting the ATP Finals in Turin later this month.
