Medvedev was upbeat despite his first-round defeat: "Happy to go to the next challenges"
Medvedev praised his opponent, and said if he continues this form, he could be in the top 30 by the end of the year.
Transcript
00:00 It was a tough match. I don't know if I'm going to look back on TV, but my feeling was that he played well.
00:08 I don't think I played that bad, but he played well. The thing is that it's always the same, if he continues to play that way,
00:20 and in my opinion, at the end of the year, he's top 30. But last time I said something like this about someone, he didn't manage to do it.
00:28 So it's great for him to play like this today. I honestly hope he's going to play like this later on, because if not, I'm going to be disappointed.
00:38 I'm going to be like, "Why today? Why not in two days?"
00:41 It was very tough with the wind, but it's strange because it was here from the first day, like six days ago,
00:47 always in the same direction, always on centre. I don't remember this from previous years.
00:51 It is what it is. It was not easy, but it's part of the game.
00:57 But with these heavy balls, to adjust with the wind was not easy.
01:03 In my opinion, players who have a wrist game, like my opponent today, Carlos, I think Stefanos a little bit,
01:15 have a big advantage with these balls because they can create easy power, which I don't have.
01:21 That was a little bit the case today. He was controlling almost all the points and I was suffering a lot, especially on the side against the wind.
01:29 That's basically why it was tough and why I lost.
01:33 I mean, second time he did some mistakes when he had a set point.
01:38 But I really, in my opinion, tried to make him win this match and he managed to do it.
01:45 So again, no problem with that. He played great. I think he's a great player.
01:50 He won the US Open Junior, if I'm not mistaken, and stuff like this.
01:54 It's just that his life is going to be better if he plays like this every match.
01:58 He's going to get more money, more sponsors, win big titles.
02:03 But he has to play like this, not once on the Philippe Chattery, but a lot of times in different tournaments all over the world throughout the year.
02:12 And the way he plays this year, I think he wants some challengers and stuff.
02:15 Maybe he's capable of doing it. So let's see. We have to wait and see.
02:19 Today I had a win, dry court. I had a mouth full of clay since probably the third game of the match.
02:26 I don't like it. I don't know. If people like to eat clay, to have clay in their bags, in their shoes, the socks, white socks, you can throw them to garbage after clay season.
02:36 Maybe some people like it. I don't. I am happy to have it finished.
02:40 I'm going to have a good time off. I have to find positives.
02:43 A lot of relaxing next days.
02:48 And happy to go to the next challenges, even if for sure I wanted to stay longer in Paris, even if it's clay.