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.”
11 - Claiming an 11th ATP top 10 win for 2023, Daniil Medvedev has matched Yevgeny Kafelnikov (1994) for the most ATP top 10 wins in a calendar year by a Russian since the ATP rankings were first published in 1973. Historic. #NittoATPFinals | @DaniilMedwed @atptour @ATPMediaInfo
