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Daniil Medvedev is through to his second consecutive final after a title win at the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam last week. Medvedev defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime to reach the finals of the Qatar Open where he will take on three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray.
Following his first Grand Slam title at the 2021 US Open, Daniil Medvedev had a strong start to his 2022 campaign as he reached the Australian Open final for the second consecutive time. However, after his loss to Rafael Nadal in the final, the Russian suffered a series of disappointing results in 2022.
Despite reaching the World No. 1 ranking, Medvedev only won two titles during the year. He also crashed out of the 2022 US Open in the fourth round against Nick Kyrgios and was unable to defend his title.
In the post-match press conference at the Qatar Open, Daniil Medvedev stated his desire to play his best tennis, something he feels he is doing at the moment. He expressed happiness with his recent performances, reaching two finals. He also acknowledged that it will not be easy to perform better at Masters 1000s and Grand Slams this year as opponents become more aware of how to play against him. Medvedev emphasized the need to adapt and change his game to continue improving.
"To play my best tennis like I'm doing right now. I'm really happy. Two finals. Of course I want to do better than I did last year in 1000s and Grand Slams. But it's not easy. Everyone you face gonna try to beat you, try to play good. People start to know how to play you. So you have to change all the time, try to adapt also," Medvedev said.
Medvedev said that his goal for the season was to showcase his best tennis as that is when he is at his most dangerous. He acknowledged that he was not always able to display his best tennis last year and said that he was aiming to improve by consistently delivering his best performances in 2023.
"So my goal is to show my best tennis, which I was, for whatever reason, sometimes not able to do last year, and I know when I show my best tennis I'm dangerous for everyone, and that's when I can get good results," the 27-year-old said.
Daniil Medvedev talks about his favorite Grand Slam tournament
Daniil Medvedev said that he loves competing at the US Open and the Australian Open because his game is best suited to hard courts. He said that despite winning the US Open, he likes all of the Grand Slam tournaments equally and hopes to excel at each one.
He acknowledged that changing surfaces and equipment could alter his preferences in the future.
"When I'm asked about favorite slam, I don't really have an answer. I won US Open, but I can't really say that this is my favorite slam. I like all of them. They are all great to play. I want to achieve big results in all of them," Daniil Medvedev said.
"Definitely in terms of my game, I think US Open suits me the best, but yeah, every year the balls are changing, surface are changing, so I never know when I'm 35 what I'm going to say," he added.
Daniil Medvedev will take on Andy Murray in the Qatar Open final. Their head-to-head currently reads 2-0 in favor of the Russian.
