"Not clay specialist" - Daniil Medvedev insists his feelings about the surface haven't changed and that they never will
Daniil Medvedev once again insisted that he sees himself only as a "Hardcourt specialist," adding this time that his dislike for playing on clay will probably never change.
The former US Open champion is set to kick off his 2023 Madrid Open campaign against either Andy Murray or Andrea Vavassori in the second round. Speaking at his pre-tournament press conference, the Russian was asked about his goals for the clay swing, which has historically not been his best surface.
Medvedev admitted the same, remarking that winning one big title or even making the final of a Masters 1000 event on clay would be a good result for him. In the first Masters competition of the swing in Monte-Carlo, the World No. 4 went as far as the quarterfinals before losing to eventual runner-up Holger Rune.
"On hard courts, honestly, my every goal is to try to win the tournament. On clay courts, I think the moment I win a big title, if it's gonna happen in my career, we never know, the goal is going to be every time after this to win a tournament.
"Right now I was not able to do it, so at the moment it's like try maybe to do better than I did once in Monte-Carlo. It was semis of a Masters 1000 and then finals of Barcelona, so maybe to make finals of a Masters 1000 on clay would be great," Daniil Medvedev said.
More importantly, however, Daniil Medvedev wanted to feel good on the surface and try to get to a stage where he can have control of the game. In the meantime, he joked about sticking to the fact that he was just a "Not clay specialist."
"But my first goal is try to feel good, because there were moments I felt good on clay, and try to get this feeling where I feel like I have the control of the game, I feel like I can put my opponent in trouble. How I would describe myself? Let's call it this way: Not clay specialist," Medvedev joked.
The former World No. 1 further added that he did not foresee his feelings about the surface changing, at least unless he decides in his final season that he was going to play only on clay and spends all of his pre-season preparing for the surface.
"I don't think [my feelings about clay have changed]. I don't think it will ever change, unless maybe -- we laughed about this with my coach today. Maybe last year of my career I come to him and say, Look, Gilles, we are going to prepare, we are only going to play on clay court this season so I'm going to be able to be better and better," Daniil Medvedev said.
"It's all about priorities" - Daniil Medvedev on why he cannot dedicate too much of his training time to getting better on clay
Daniil Medvedev made another interesting observation during the press conference, stating that he would have to allot separate time during his pre-season training sessions to get better on clay.
However, considering how good he was on hardcourts, the Russian did not think it was wise, as there was the risk that all that extra time, which he could have put towards hardcourt training, did not pay off in the end.
"The thing is that if I want to be better on clay, I have to practice more on it maybe during preseason stuff, but I have such an ability to be playing good on hard courts that it's all about priorities. I cannot, before Australian Open, say to myself that two weeks of the preseason I'm going to play on clay court because we're not 100% sure it's gonna help me, and I could play better overall for preparation for Australia," Medvedev said.
Referring to his Monte-Carlo stint, the World No. 4 believes that he did start to adjust to the surface as he got more matches under his belt. At the same time, however, he declared that he would be happy to see the clay swing off and return to hardcourts soon, where he felt far more comfortable.
"This year, for example, before Monte-Carlo I had probably three, four days of clay practice, which is not enough, especially for me where I don't like playing that much, and so now it's the only time, where, yeah, every day I'm trying to somehow fix some small things, small adjustments, and try to play better, but I definitely will be happy to come back to hard courts," Daniil Medvedev said.