Exclusive: Daniil Medvedev on US Open plans and 'childish' antics

The world No 5 enjoyed a stunning summer in 2019 that saw him win two Masters events, lose in the final of another, and reach the final of the US Open.

In an Instagram chat with Eurosport’s Barbara Schett, he was asked whether he has concerns about returning to New York this year, with no fans at the tournament and probable limits on who can attend with players.

“I don’t think we can know what is going to happen in New York at that moment, and as you may have seen, some players are against very strict rules,” he said.

“At the same time, if you don’t have the strict rules, then there is a big chance of us getting infected or something else.

"Just talking about myself, I want to come back on the court as fast as possible and play tournaments, for the fans maybe - first it’s going to be without spectators, but for the fans all over the world in front of the TV, like soccer does.

“But as I said, it’s a tough decision, when we’re going to start because it depends on the coronavirus, of course.

“It’s going to be super strange because all of us played junior tournaments or futures, where you play maybe just with your coach and no-one else there. But it’s different, it’s a small court, it’s somewhere indoors in the middle of nowhere.

Medvedev’s run to the US Open final last year was part of a breakout summer as he climbed into the top 10 in the world.

He says his recent success owes much to a change of approach off the court in 2017.

“Starting about three years ago, I decided to be more professional about tennis. Which, of course, I was before - I was already in the top 100 and practising a lot - but outside the court I could go to bed too late sometimes, going out, small details were not important for me.

“I thought that didn’t affect my results, but maybe becoming a little bit older and talking with my coach a lot, I decided to give it a go and be more professional, maybe even sacrifice some things that I liked, such as going to the bar for an evening with your friends, maybe two days before a match, just having a good time, going to bed at two in the morning, which is nothing ridiculous, and I think everybody does it in normal life, but I decided that I wanted to be more professional even if that means that I have to go to bed at 11, wake up, get breakfast and stuff like this.

“That’s just a small part I am talking about. I tried to be professional in everything. And it worked pretty well so I cannot go back, if I want to play good tennis. If it didn’t work maybe I would go back to my normal life before, but it worked really well and I think that was one of the results.”

The 24-year-old recalled a particular incident when he stayed up all night to play video games shortly before a tournament.

“One time long ago, I was at a tennis tournament – not before the match, but like three days before the match – me and my friends just started playing this game. I think we played from eight in the evening until like seven in the morning and they went to sleep and I was like, 'guys, I’m going to breakfast, because I have a practice at eight'.

“So my practice was at eight and I fell asleep at breakfast for 20 minutes and then went to practice. The tournament didn’t finish good and, as I said, I completely changed my habits afterwards.”

Medvedev also admitted he can be "childish" on court, which is in contrast to his persona when he is not playing tennis.

"I am much more patient than on the court…You can trust me, no matter what you say you won’t make me angry right now. No matter if you start insult me or the opposite, start complimenting me. I’m super easy going, on court that changes.

"Some other tennis players they kind of don’t understand why I’m like this. Because I can do some bad things on the court and they cannot divide tennis life from normal life. So they won’t be friends with me and it’s normal out of the tennis court. And I’m like ‘out of the tennis court I’m different guys, please, believe me!’. But they take it very personally what happens on the tennis court and well it’s okay. It doesn’t bother me.”

Asked what match from his career he would replay if given a chance, he picked out his defeat to Rafael Nadal at the ATP Finals last year when lost after being 5-1 ahead in the third set and with a match point.

“I have to be honest, the match against Rafa in London, the match point, what else can I say? I thought it would be a tough question to find an answer but actually it’s an easy one.”

What about the US Open final defeat to Nadal?

“Not really because if I come back to the match, I don’t think that there was something I could do better. Of course, we can always find one shot. I think I had a break point at 5-4 in the fifth and I missed a forehand and there I could have come back to the score and maybe win. But no, it’s a super small detail.

“It’s different than winning 5-1 and going completely nuts inside your head and losing the match, because of this. At the US Open I think I did everything I can. As a competitor I’ll always love to win, so I was super disappointed to lose it and my first Grand Slam final I wanted to win it. But it’s not possible to change that.”