Daniil Medvedev - "I would love every tennis court to be 10 meters large and 10 meters wide"
Daniil Medvedev wants tournaments to feature larger tennis courts ahead of his opening match at the ATP Masters 1000 Italian Open in Rome.
During his fourth-round match against Aslan Karatsev at the recently concluded Madrid Open, Medvedev questioned why his match was not played on the centre court.
Medvedev stated that there was not enough space behind the baseline on the smaller court for him to return as he would have liked.
"Why do I have this disadvantage when I am No 2 [seed]? I don't understand. It's a little bit strange, right?" Medvedev said at the time.
During his pre-tournament press conference at the Italian Open, the former World No. 1 opened up about his frustration with the restrictive court dimensions in Madrid that didn't allow him to play his most effective tennis.
"From one point of view I understand probably all the tournaments in the world cannot make all the match courts as big as I want or some other players want. At the same time it's a disadvantage," Daniil Medvedev said.
"Playing Karatsev on the second court, I had a disadvantage. Didn't allow me to play my 100% tennis, even if I was probably at 98%. That's disappointing because it was same, practice courts are always smaller," he added. "On his serve I didn't have many opportunities, and that was really disappointing."
Medvedev expressed his preference for larger courts while still acknowledging the impracticality of such a change.
"Yeah, I would love every tennis court to be 10 meters large and 10 meters wide, but I also understand it's not possible. Every time I'm not going to have my space on the return, I'm going to be disappointed because I cannot play my best tennis," he said.
"I feel great" - Daniil Medvedev on his form heading into the Italian Open
Daniil Medvedev stated that he is feeling great heading into the Rome Masters after facing some physical issues prior to the Madrid Open.
"I had some physical problems so I didn't have a lot of time to practice the small things I maybe wanted to practice before Madrid. That was a pity. After Madrid, physically I felt well. I knew I could practice full. That's great. So now I feel great physically. Every day I'm trying to put a strong session and try to work small things with my coach, for sure," he said.
Following a bye in the first round, Daniil Medvedev will take on the winner of the match between Ugo Humbert and Emil Ruusuvuori to begin his campaign in Rome.