Daniil Medvedev, world no. 2, is counting days until the start of the second Grand Slam of 2022 in Paris, barely six weeks after undergoing hernia surgery.
At the 2022 Roland Garros, there won't be any major expectations from the second-seeded Daniil Medvedev who can only surprise everyone. The Russian returns after missing the whole clay-court part of the season and playing only one match against Richard Gasquet, which he lost in two sets.
“I'm just talking about a few moments where the kid (in me) stopped dreaming, and today was one of them. I'm happy to be back on tour, healthy, feeling great physically, and that's the most important. I want to play, I want to show some good tennis, try to win some matches. Yeah, and I want to dream again, and I'm dreaming again.”
“I took this time to really refresh the batteries, because I needed this. I especially felt it coming back right now, even not talking about results but coming back to practice."
"I felt that last year, including Davis Cup and straightaway going to Australia, which is always a tough travel and tough tournament in terms of clock difference, being away from home and everything - I felt that I needed this break maybe for my body and for my head.”
“I was playing with it for a while,” he said of the inguinal hernia. “I wanted to find the best moment to do it. And when I say 'the best moment', also in terms of where you don't go too far playing with an injury, because that's when the recovery can go longer, and the consequences can be harsher."
“So I'm happy I'm back, because I heard it can take on average six weeks to come back to play in tennis, but maybe more. For me, it was four weeks where I took the racquet and started playing tennis. Never really felt pain. Physically, I'm feeling good, ready to play five sets.”
“It's always good to not have these biggest names (in your section. And when I say ‘biggest names', of course we know Novak, Rafa at Roland-Garros, it's crazy how they play here. Carlos (Alcaraz) has been playing amazing lately."
“It's good from one side to have them on the other side of the draw. At the same time, me, even more than other tournaments, I have to focus on myself.”
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