In 10 years new people coming to tennis will read the results, who was World No. 1 for most weeks, & they're going to see Novak Djokovic everywhere: Daniil Medvedev
Novak Djokovic clinched a record-breaking 37th Masters 1000 title by beating World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev in the final of the Paris Masters on Sunday. Djokovic came from a set down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and lift a record-extending sixth Paris-Bercy crown.
Speaking of records, the World No. 1 has also gone past Pete Sampras' tally of six Year-End No. 1 trophies. Djokovic secured the year-ending top spot for the seventh time in his career by reaching the Paris final.
The Serb also overtook Roger Federer's record of most weeks as No. 1 earlier this year, before equaling his and Rafael Nadal's tally of 20 Majors at Wimbledon.
Despite all of Djokovic's success though, many believe he still doesn't get as much adulation from the fans as Federer and Nadal do. And Daniil Medvedev was asked for his two cents on this topic during his post-match press conference.
In response, Medvedev first called the situation "unfair". But the Russian also claimed that the general perception towards Novak Djokovic has been changing ever since he has started breaking records left, right and center.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Medvedev said. "I think this is unfair; it's tough for me to talk to other people, but I see what you mean because I feel it sometimes. I also have the feeling though that people start more and more to respect what he has done in tennis more and more, because, well, he continues to beat the records."
Medvedev then proceeded to list some of Djokovic's achievements in 2021, pointing out how the Serb came mighty close to winning the Calendar Slam. The 25-year-old also believes that Djokovic's critics are not "real fans" of the sport since they fail to appreciate his greatness.
"Only this year he beat the records for being No. 1 for many weeks, 310 it was, and now it's much more," Medvedev said. "He got to 20 Slams, almost done a Calendar Slam."
"I feel like except real haters, which are not real fans, people start to see what he's done and to see that he's able to do more, which we can never know, that's why we like tennis, but which he can do more," the Russian added.
Daniil Medvedev then went on to explain how people from the next generation are more likely to appreciate Novak Djokovic's accomplishments. The World No. 2 pointed out that in 10 years' time, tennis' new generation of fans may not know much about the current era but will see Djokovic's name on all relevant record lists.
"And I think, yeah, that maybe it's also sometimes, 10 years after he retires, because there is gonna be starting to be people who will start watching tennis," Daniil Medvedev said. "Just like me; I didn't see Sampras play, I was too young but I heard he was amazing. It's going to be the same."
"There are going to be new people coming to tennis who are just going to read in Wikipedia or whatever what were the results, who was the World No. 1 for most weeks, for most times in the end, and they are going to see Novak everywhere," he added. "That's when people are going to start to understand, Okay, that's amazing what he has done."
Tough match today. I fought to the end. Congrats to @DjokerNole on the win and year end ranking. I keep working to the end. @atptour https://t.co/cZAKINzLql
"It's impossible to have any upper hand psychologically speaking on Novak Djokovic" - Daniil Medvedev
A reporter also asked Daniil Medvedev if he thought Novak Djokovic would have been psychologically affected coming into the match because of what took place in the US Open final. Medvedev was in blazing form at Flushing Meadows and spent no time dispatching a hapless Djokovic in straight sets, in the process denying him the Calendar Slam.
The Russian, however, stressed that it is "impossible" to have a psychological advantage over Novak Djokovic - just the way it is impossible for anyone to have a mental edge over himself.
"It's impossible to have any upper hand psychologically speaking on him (Novak Djokovic)," Daniil Medvedev said. "But this could be the case for me as well. If we take for instance the last weeks, I lost against Grigor, Rublev, and Novak. So the next time that I will play these three opponents this question shouldn't be raised. Will Daniil be affected psychologically? No."
NOVAK-ATION FROM TITLETOWN 🏆🇷🇸
The moment @DjokerNole won a record-breaking 37th Masters 1000 title vs Medvedev in Paris!
#RolexParisMasters https://t.co/m57J45xit8
Medvedev further talked about how Djokovic was itching to exact revenge for the US Open defeat, even though the stakes were lower in Paris. The Russian claimed he had sensed that Djokovic was extremely eager to triumph at Paris-Bercy.
"When I play Novak, I knew that he would try to take his revenge even if the match is not the same," Medvedev said. "What was at stake was not the same. Of course I'm not talking about the prize money here. I could feel he really wanted to win no matter what, and this is what competition is all about."