"I'm not a favourite for Roland Garros but I can be dangerous" claims Daniil Medvedev

| by Zachary Wimer

Daniil Medvedev returned to the courts on Tuesday at the 2022 Geneva Open, where he lost 2-6 6-7 to a very strong Richard Gasquet.

After undergoing surgery for a hernia earlier in the year, Daniil Medvedev missed the majority of the clay season, and his first match back did not go well. He lost to the French veteran, but he showed some good signs ahead of the 2022 Roland Garros where he will be the second-seeded. Despite the loss, the Russian remained upbeat after his setback, saying:

“It’s tough. I don’t play my best tennis on clay courts. I know that I am capable of making some good results as I did in the past. But for this, I kind of need to be in the zone, which I was not today. When I’m not in the zone on hard courts, sometimes during the tournament, during the match, I can try to turn it around and sometimes it doesn’t happen."

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“On clay [it is] much tougher and usually from what I remember most of the matches — not all of them, but most of them — I’m losing because it’s tough for me to turn something around unless everything goes well straightaway and that’s what happened today."

“[I made] a lot of errors, a lot of double faults. Just was not playing good enough to win. Had maybe some small bright moments in the second set where I maybe could have won the second set."

"But again because I don’t feel as confident on clay as on the other surfaces, that’s why I lost 7-5 in the tie-break, finishing with a double fault. [It is] disappointing, but I’ve had tougher losses in my career and I just need to try to do better next time.”

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“Physically I felt not bad today. I think more days of practice and [I] should be ready for Roland Garros because physically, even right now, my body feels good. Let’s see tomorrow morning, because I haven’t played [a tournament] for one month and a half, maybe two months. Hopefully tomorrow morning it’s going to be good also."

“[I will] have some days of practice before Roland Garros so I’m going to try to work physically and also tennis-wise. Hopefully I can try to find the game I had there last year, which is not going to be easy.”

“Clay for my body is the most dangerous surface. For me it’s clay courts — every time, every year I have some problems where I cannot be 100 percent. I’m not a favourite for Roland Garros but I do want to play well. If I can find my level again, I can be dangerous.”

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