Daniil Medvedev s’est qualifié pour les huitièmes de finale de l’US Open en dominant nettement Arthur Rinderknech. Le Russe n’a toujours pas concédé le moindre set depuis le début du tournoi.
Le joueur analyse cette excellente dynamique : "What a great feeling! Arthur is a very tough opponent. He has a very powerful serve, he can put anyone in trouble and he has shown it many times. I'm happy that I was solid and that I won the match. That's the most important thing.
Today was a great match: if they asked me to give it a grade from 1 to 10, I would say maybe 7.5 or 8. I'm quite strict with myself. I know there were a couple of moments when I could have done better, but it was a great, solid match in which I beat a difficult opponent and I'm very happy."
Medvedev rayonne à New York
Après une saison en dents de scie, le Russe retrouve de bonnes sensations : "Why? Because it's sport, and tennis maybe even more than other sports. It's very technical, mental and physical. So if you have a little pain in your calf, your serve can be a little worse. You could feel even worse mentally because of it and maybe lose a match at 5-4, 0-40. In tennis, it's normal to have ups and downs. When you know you're number 1 in the world, you want to have more highs than lows, but you can go through bad times. I just try to stay focused on my goals, try to play better and win the match I'm playing at the moment. I'm glad I played very well today and went through to the next round. I hope I can continue to improve from this point on.”
Que tire-t-il des autres sports pour améliorer son jeu ? "Every time I watch a sport, I try to focus on the mental details, because it's the same in all sports. For example, you see a great baseball player who earns, I don't know, 50 million a year because he's a great baseball player, then he goes through a bad period, he doesn't hit well and everyone thinks, 'Oh my God, it's over!', and all of a sudden, and then he shines again."