"I'm scared to play Rafa": Medvedev on proposition of playing Nadal on clay, sees it as harder than Djokovic on hard courts

ATP
Saturday, 11 March 2023 at 22:00
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Daniil Medvedev thinks that facing Rafael Nadal on clay is the ultimate challenge in tennis, even more, daunting than facing Djokovic on hard courts.
It's not hard to understand why that is. No player dominated as much in tennis as Nadal has on clay. He has brutal statistics winning Roland Garros 14 times and having an absurd winning percentage on the surface. Medvedev also isn't very good on clay as opposed to hard courts where he's really good and actually beat Djokovic in a grand slam final before.
He's never faced Nadal on clay though but he's not too eager to dos either:
"I didn't play Rafa on clay. Rafa on clay is probably the worst and best challenge in tennis. When I say worst, it's because he lost, what, I don't know, 10 matches? I'm not even sure he lost 10. I mean, last years he was losing a little bit more in tournaments like Rome and Monte-Carlo."
He continued:
"But, yeah, I will be honest, I'm scared to play Rafa on clay. In a way I want to try it, and for sure I will fight to win, but that must be scary to go out against Rafa on clay."
On Djokovic, Medvedev said:
"Novak I managed to beat him few times. But again, that's two guys who have 22 Grand Slams. Yeah, I would say, you know what? Novak in Australia is tough. I had few, I would say, I lost probably four times against him, four or five there. But thinking back of these matches, I don't know why there he plays, in my opinion, better than on other continents or courts. But, that's tough, same like Rafa on clay, he barely loses there. Yeah, tough challenges, and I hope I can do it one day in my career."

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