Exclusive: Daniil Medvedev finally loving grass ahead of Carlos Alcaraz Wimbledon clash - 'Now I want more'
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Published 13/07/2023 at 12:36 GMT
Neither Carlos Alcaraz nor Daniil Medvedev are natural grass-court players, but that hasn't stopped the pair progressing to the Wimbledon semi-finals to set up an intriguing clash on Friday. Medvedev told Eurosport he's never felt better on the surface after making the last four for the first time. The third seed admitted that now he "wants more" as he chases his second Grand Slam title.
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Daniil Medvedev says he has never felt better on grass ahead of his much-anticipated Wimbledon semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz.
The third seed defeated Christoper Eubanks in five sets on Wednesday to reach the last four at SW19 for the first time in his career.
Speaking exclusively to Eurosport’s Mats Wilander, Medvedev explains what has led to his improvement on a surface that has so often been his undoing in previous years.
“The thing is that I always loved Wimbledon, less the grass,” Medvedev said.
“I probably have never felt [as good] on grass as I'm feeling these two weeks.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself before the tournament, which I usually try to not do.
“But this time I was like, OK, the last maybe six Grand Slams or something were not what I wanted. I’ve had some better results.
“Wimbledon was never, never my tournament. I was like, 'I want to try to prove to myself that I know that I'm such a good player'.
“I want to try to prove to myself I can do well here [and] so far it's been working, but now I want more.”
Medvedev faces a daunting task to reach the final, with top seed and world No. 1 Alcaraz standing in his way.
However, the Spaniard is a relative newcomer to grass-court tennis with this being just his third SW19 appearance.
Wilander quizzed Medvedev about whether he will have to tinker with his approach against the explosive 20-year-old, for example by playing more aggressively.
“That's exactly what we're going to see on Friday, what I will for sure try to prepare tactically,” Medvedev replied.
“I mean, when you play someone the calibre of Carlos, Novak [Djokovic], Andy [Murray] or Roger [Federer], you know that during the match many times you're going to have to change something.
“Because even if something is working, they're going to try to break it down and if something doesn't work well, it's for you to try to break it down.
“I think there’s going to be a lot [of] this during our match and at the same time it's grass.
“The serve is very important. You try to break one time and hold your serve and that's how you win on grass.
“I think it's going to be a very interesting match and I hope I can show my 100 per cent like this. I'm going to have my chances to win.”
The other men's semi-final on Friday sees Novak Djokovic take on Jannik Sinner.
Speaking to Eurosport ahead of that tie, which is a rematch of last year's quarter-final that Sinner lost having led by two sets to love, the Italian said: "I'm looking forward to this kind of match, because in my mind I feel like I have learned many things from last year's lesson."
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Stream daily highlights from Wimbledon at 10pm UK time, as well as the two singles finals live on July 15 and 16, on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com
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