Russia’s tennis star Danil Medvedev has revealed that he felt
a bit sorry for beating his close friend
Andrey Rublev.
The two came face to face in the second group match of the
ATP Finals which is currently taking place in the Italian city of Turin. It was
the current world number three who came out on top in straight sets with a score
of 6-4, 6-2.
That win was enough for the finalist of the US Open 2023 to
claim the top spot in the Red Group of the competition with two consecutive
wins out of two.
Medvedev was recently quoted in a report where he admitted
he felt bad after beating his close friend Rublev despite also saying that he
does not believe in having friendships on the tennis court.
“To be honest, on court, I don’t know how it is for him,” he
said. “For me on court, friends and enemies do not exist. I just try to win the
match. I don’t think about anything else, but when the last point is finished,
it’s like I feel sorry for him. If he beats me, I mean, last year was brutal
when he beat me in Turin.
“So I felt, I felt for one or two days he was shy to talk to
me, taking care. It’s the same. You always try to look at him and see if
tomorrow we can talk like normal. I am going to say to him good luck, go for it
in the next matches, and he is probably going to say to him good luck in the
next matches, and he is probably going to say the same.
“In general I need one hour to cool off after a defeat. It
depends on the match. Sometimes I need 30 minutes. I laugh about it. For sure I
will be disappointed, but I can talk to people, laugh about it. I think Andrey
needs a little bit more time, but that’s just the way he is.”
