Indian Wells: Medvedev praises Dimitrov - "If he plays like this, he'll win the tournament"
Grigor Dimitrov (ATP No. 28) made an outstanding comeback in his round of 16 match against Daniil Medvedev.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Oct 14, 2021, 02:54 pm
"I really wanted to play this match, to be completely honest," said Grigor Dimitrov after his comeback victory over Daniil Medvedev . "What he's delivered over the past year and a half has been pretty amazing."
For a long time only one player, namely Medvedev, played up to 6: 4 and 4: 1 - then Dimitrov turned it up. "The first two points at 4-1, everything turned for me. Little by little, I tried to stay in the game and fight for every possibility," he explains. With success in the end: 4: 6, 6: 4 and 6: 3 it was in the end for Dimitrov, the former number 3 in the world. Medvedev recognized his outstanding performance: "If he plays like he did after the 4-1 win, he'll win the tournament," said the US Open champ, "but of course we'll have to wait and see."
Dimitrov meets Hubert Hurkacz in the quarter-finals.
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Medvedev without getting through on serve
Medvedev analyzed two other things in the afterthought, "because in tennis it's not always just this one thing." He could not remember having lost three or even four service games in a match on hardcourt, "that shows how slow the place is." It feels more like being on sand, "and I don't like it," said Medvedev about the conditions in Indian Wells - he is not the first player or coach to have pointed out the slowness of the court in recent days.
He also had problems controlling the ball during the day, especially when it came to service. Therefore, he always asked to play in the night session, which this time did not work due to the matches of colleagues the day before. "That's normal too, but I knew it wouldn't be of any benefit to me."
But that is not the end of the world, so Medvedev, next time he wants to play better. "Because I like Indian Wells, one day I want to do better."
Here the single tableau in Indian Wells
iwmap