"The plane was delayed" - Medvedev details 2019 Cincinnati winning run

Three years ago in Cincinnati, Daniil Medvedev won his first ATP 1000 trophy, although many people are unaware of the events that led up to it.

For Medvedev, the 2019 North American hard court season was exceptional because of his considerable success that year on these courts. He participated in a few championship matches, won the Cincinnati Masters, and competed in the US Open championship match. In his press conference prior to this year's event, Medvedev recalled how it all went for him in 2019:

“The plane was delayed, maybe there was a thunderstorm or something. I remember coming to my room and I was the No. 9 seed, so I was just one out from [getting] a bye and playing Wednesday, so I had to play Tuesday. I came [to] my room at like 4:30 in the morning [on Monday].”

The event itself went great for Medvedev despite the circumstances as he ended up as the champion. The Russian was has pretty strong memories of it:

“I have pretty amazing memories, especially playing my best matches, starting from the quarters and of course the match against Novak, where he was one set to love up. Amazing. That’s why I always love coming here. The tournament didn’t really change from three years ago. I love this atmosphere, because I was always playing good here, especially starting from four years ago. I hope to do the same this year.”

For Medvedev it's all about building up for the US Open which is his main goal:

“For sure [I] want to try to win as many matches as possible here to grow this confidence of winning matches for the US Open. But we’ll take it match by match. As we see in the draw, I feel that the draw is very, very packed. Sometimes you have somebody retiring here and there, somebody tired from the season, maybe not in the best shape here. When I look at the draw I’m like wow, every match we have, even in the first round, is a tough match.”