The Laver Cup brings together some players who might not be in the best relations, as Daniil Medvedev opened up about his relationship with Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Medvedev and Tsitsipas have a long and rocky history with each other. It all started during their first meeting in Miami a few years ago when they verbally clashed after it. There were some harsh words exchanged, but ultimately nothing happened.
The relationship always remained rather tense, though. At times, it looked like they became friends; it was mostly cordial and remains so. There is plenty of competitive spirit there, as they famously danced after beating each other recently.
This year's Laver Cup has them on the same team, the second time after Boston 2021. Another mostly rocky relationship is between Medvedev and Zverev, especially in recent years.
They had some tense matches in the past couple of years, which contributed to that, but there were also some words exchanged in a couple of interviews.
While Zverev famously called Medvedev a friend after winning the ATP Finals in Turin, the Russian dismissed those suggestions, explaining that they were never friends and that he didn't know what the German player was talking about.
They're also teammates this year in Berlin for the second time after both were there in Boston in 2021. Medvedev was obviously asked about his relationship with both players, and he once again remained steadfast, explaining that they were not best friends.
"No, to be honest, I don't think it's that tough, because we, for sure when we play sometimes in the press conference, we can, you know, say some things. And we're not best friends with them, that's reality, but I think we all have respect for each other. So we're here, we support 100% each other, and honestly, at least for me, it's an easy switch."
Medvedev is generally known as a very calm person outside of the tennis courts who doesn't harbor much resentment. At least that's how he presents himself, and it doesn't seem like he's too bothered by being part of a team where there are players with whom he had some spats in the past.
"So, yeah, I think there is, you know, I see this in other sports, in tennis, also, especially with social media, we love to -- something happens, let's say I scream on umpire, that's not good, and then for ten years we put it, TikTok, Instagram, this video, they remake it with music, et cetera, we exaggerate things. So what happened with me, Sascha, Stefanos, yeah, we played some matches."
The Russian also explained that while it's true that they've had some moments in the past, it's not that serious, and sometimes it looks quite exaggerated.
"Sometimes we had some fights. Sometimes someone said something in the press conference. And it's okay. In one month, we don't remember it too much. We're still rivals."
"But people tend to exaggerate it. Oh, my God, they hate each other. It's such a crazy thing. No, it's okay, we respect each other. Here I think we support each other like never before, and it's a funny feeling."