"I don't think I really felt much pressure": Medvedev describes experience defending US Open in 2022

Russia’s tennis star Daniil Medvedev has stated that he did not feel too much pressure while defending his US Open title in 2022.

The 27-year-old’s only Grand Slam title came in 2021 when he defeated the current world number two Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

However, last year turned out to be a disastrous one where, while defending his crown, he was knocked out in the fourth round after losing to Australia’s Nick Kyrgios with a score of 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Talking about how he felt during last year’s competition, Medvedev stated that he did not feel much pressure.

“I will generally say I don’t think I really felt much pressure. I just wanted to do well,” he said while talking to the media ahead of the US Open. “Tough match against Nick. Generally last year, if I take it as a whole, I was not playing too bad. I was in Turin. Final of Australian Open, even if it’s in the beginning of the year, it’s still last year. In general, the year was maybe my worst year in four, five years.

“So I don’t think it was something to do with defending the US Open title itself. But, yeah, I hope I can defend one of the titles. I never had two for the moment. That’s my chance here. I’m sure Carlos is such a strong player that I’m sure it’s not going to bother him too much about thinking to defend his title.”

Talking about his preparation ahead of the mega-event, Medvedev stated that he believes he is in a very good form.

“I feel great. Then we come again to this unconscious part. Do I feel tired? I don’t think so. I feel great,” said Medvedev. “Also Toronto and Cincinnati I had a lot of time to continue practicing, preparing, just because I had this off time when you lose. It all comes down to how do you feel during the tournament. It can be different.

“You can come to the tournament, you feel awful, then during the tournament you feel better and better. Or the other way around. I’m feeling good right now. Hopefully I can feel like this during the tournament also. How do you cope with this? You try with your team to do the best schedule possible in terms of days off, practices, what you do in your off time. I feel like I’m pretty experienced in this so hopefully I can be 100% starting from the first match.”