Daniil Medvedev gets energy boost from being called 'World No. 2'

Daniil Medvedev is entering his first event as the 2nd best-ranked player in the world and the number one seed as Djokovic elected not to participate.

It is something new for Medvedev who has never been ranked as the 2nd best player in the world nor a top seed at a premier event but the Russian is excited about it. Heading into the Miami Open during Media Day he said:

“It's been already one week, I could feel maybe pressure, [but] no, I feel like it just gives me some energy boost. I just want to play better and better to prove to myself I deserve this and hopefully, I can show some great tennis in Miami.”

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Medvedev understands the gravity of this achievement which is why he is simply enjoying the moment:

“Definitely being the top seed for a Masters [1000] event, especially this one in Miami, being No. 2 in the world, I'm enjoying the moment. I don’t feel the pressure except for the pressure that I like to win matches and I want to win every tournament I play."

For Medvedev, none of this came easy or out of the blue as he vividly remembers working hard for it. He can't pinpoint an exact moment when things changed but he highlighted all the small things that went into his ascent:

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“To be honest it was such a long time ago everything changed. I became more mature in terms of tennis, in terms of life also. I worked a lot on the practice court, improved big time my tennis, my physical[ity] for sure, my mental strength. All of these small details, they count.”

The Russian will face either Querrey or Lu in the 2nd round and he remembers beating both of them before. He said it won't be easy so make sure to follow that match and any other match by clicking here!