"Want to be remembered not for my tantrums but for my personality" - Daniil Medvedev regrets on-court behavior, promises to work towards changing it

Daniil Medvedev knows as much as anybody else that he has a penchant for throwing tantrums on the tennis court. Sometimes, it gets to the point where it could be a legit distracting tactic against opponents.

As effective as it is, however, the Russian wants to change that behavior for the better in the coming days.

Tuesday witnessed another trademark rant from the former World No. 1. He did not like how slow the courts were at the 2023 Indian Wells Masters during his fourth-round clash against Alexander Zverev.

Speaking to the press after eventually beating the German 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-5, Daniil Medvedev touched on how he behaved on the court. He said that he did not want to make a habit out of making mistakes and then apologizing and thinking he's mature as a result.

"I feel like many times I'm capable of -- I mean, the thing is that you cannot constantly do, let's call it, errors and then apologize and say, You see, I apologize so that's mature. No, but I'm capable of seeing many times my mistakes. Sometimes not," Medvedev said.

"Sometimes if a person comes to me and says, 'You did a mistake.' I say, 'No, I don't think so.' Then that's also your opinion. But sometimes I'm capable of seeing this, and then telling myself, 'Okay, maybe next time I have to try to do better.'"

Instead, the World No. 6 wanted to stop the problem at the source and work on snapping out of such behavior. He added that he would like to be remembered for more than just his tantrums at the end of the day.

"But that's something I'm going to try to work throughout my whole career, because I want to be remembered not definitely for my tantrums but more for my game and for my good parts of my personality," Daniil Medvedev said.

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"When I was much younger, I was actually much worse; that's my personality" - Daniil Medvedev

Daniil Medvedev at the BNP Paribas Open

At the same time, Daniil Medvedev admitted that his animated way of openly complaining on the court distracted him at times too, to his own detriment. While the 27-year-old would love to change that immediately, he understands that it is the way he has always been wired.

The Russian, in fact, revealed that he used to be much worse in his younger days, remarking that he has matured incredibly since then. Even though he is prone to immaturity every now and then, he was of the opion that it was not completely avoidable for him in a high-intensity sport like tennis.

"I do think it actually distracts me and I would be better just shutting up and playing. That's what I should do. But at the same time, that's how I am," Daniil Medvedev said.

"When I was much younger, I was actually much worse. I tried to mature, if we can say like this. I do think that in many aspects of my life and in my tennis career I matured a lot. And better than I was three, four years ago."

He continued:

"The attitude I had on the court today and with Ivashka was immature. But, yeah, what else can I say? That's also this high-intensity sport where you are one on one against the opponent brings the heat out of you.

"Some players are capable of controlling it better than the others. Some are controlling it less, like me. So, yeah, that's my character, and that's my personality, also."

Daniil Medvedev further added that he was trying his best not to make this a norm. He declared that he would like to win matches "normally" without the help of such distracting tactics. Thankfully, the former US Open champion has enough self-confidence to note that he will continue to improve in this aspect.

"I want to, yeah, have good relationship with all the guys on the court, because I can also understand that this can distract my opponent, and that's not what I want," Medvedev said.

"I don't care to win a match distracting my opponent. I want to win it normally. Yeah, that's something I work on constantly. I'm sure I'm going to only improve and improve on this case."