"At least next match don't go out for 8 minutes" - Daniil Medvedev on how Stefanos Tsitsipas could have avoided getting booed by the crowd
Daniil Medvedev routinely dispatched Pablo Andujar 6-0, 6-4, 6-3 in the third round of the 2021 US Open on Friday. After the match Medvedev spoke about a variety of topics, including Stefanos Tsitsipas' toilet break controversy and the subsequent booing he received from the crowd.
The Russian was asked during his post-match presser whether he had any advice for Tsitsipas on how to get people to stop booing him. Medvedev himself had successfully managed to turn things around with the New York crowd during his run to the 2019 US Open final, with a combination of provocative gestures and apologetic comments.
Daniil Medvedev said on Friday that the first thing Stefanos Tsitsipas should try to do is avoid making the same mistake in his subsequent matches. The Russian was referring to the fact that Tsitsipas took another long toilet break in his second-round match against Adrian Mannarino, after having already incurred the wrath of Andy Murray for a similar action in the first round.
"I want to say we all need to go to change sometimes our clothes," Medvedev said. "Somebody does it five minutes, six minutes, eight minutes. What happened with him and Murray happened. He got booed. At least next match don't go out for eight minutes, and that's what he did."
The Russian then recalled his own experience during the 2019 US Open, where he avoided repeating his mistakes after having earned the ire of the crowd once.
"If you will remember 2019, I did a mistake," Medvedev said. "Well, I was not continuing to do it every other match, otherwise the crowd would not go behind me. That's the only advice I can give."
The 25-year-old did point out, however, that Stefanos Tsitsipas was under no obligation to listen to advice from anybody.
"I mean, he has his own life," Medvedev said. "He probably won't listen to my advice."
"I want to keep my medical history private" - Daniil Medvedev on COVID-19 vaccination numbers on ATP tour
During the course of the press conference, Daniil Medvedev also touched upon the topic of players getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Medvedev was asked for his comments about a Sports Illustrated report which claimed only 30% of players on tour have been vaccinated, and the Russian replied that that number may not be accurate.
Medvedev believes many players - including himself - like to keep their medical history private, so they wouldn't reveal whether or not they have been vaccinated.
"The thing is that I don't know where Sports Illustrated got this info from," Daniil Medvedev said. "I know a lot of players who are vaccinated, but they don't say it for different reasons."
"For example, talking about myself, I want to keep my medical, in Russia you call it a medical card, like medical book, I want to keep it private," he added. "Talking about anything, COVID, shoulder injury, wrist injury, ankle, whatever. Like, anybody, I can have some problems with my health, and I don't want my opponents to know about it. So I would doubt that these numbers are right from them."