Medvedev provokes Jannik Sinner: "It used to happen to me with Nadal"
Daniil Medvedev, in a press conference at the Internazionali d’Italia 2026, commented at length on what happened in the semifinals, a match played over two days and ended 6-2 5-7 6-4 in favor of Jannik Sinner. “Good feeling playing tennis of this quality… I mean, even in the first set I thought I wasn’t playing that bad. If you play against Jannik and you don’t play 110 percent, you can’t play bad and lose 6-2. I was able to raise the level in the second set. It was fast today, too. Happy with the way I tried, saving two match points on my serve. Happy with the level. Sorry for the defeat. Confidence? Every week is new. Good to have this level before Roland Garros, but it will be a new journey there. We will see what it will bring.”
Interjected then on the topic of the physiotherapist, after what happened the previous day, Medvedev proposed his own idea: “So, first of all I would like to say that it would be impossible, but I would have a solution: allow the three minutes of treatment by the physiotherapist when you have cramps. Then there is no problem, a player could say that he has cramps and needs the physiotherapist. That is not allowed for now. I completely understand that. Clearly, if you start having cramps (it may be that he didn’t have them, I have no idea), what you do is you call the physical therapist and say ‘I have a little pain in my knee.’ I may have done that in my career as well. If medical treatment was available for cramps there would be no problem, that’s a solution.”
On Jannik Sinner’s physical condition during the match, he added, “We don’t talk about it in the locker room. As for me, we don’t try to discuss tennis. When I say that, I say we don’t look at a match and say ‘look at his backhand, it’s really bad. We should all go on that one’. Or at least I don’t talk to anybody about it.” He went on to explain more about the type of match, “So, it’s hard to play against him. To win a point you have to hit many times. I try to win points, so I hit a lot. I don’t know if there was something else, but the points were physical. It was difficult for me, too. He was in pain. When I play against Novak it’s the same. He was often in physical pain against me. Were there any others? Well, I would say against Rafa I was struggling physically. But it was the same story. We played a lot of shots because that’s how I want to play too. I don’t think there is more to say. Again, if someone is good enough to play against Jannik from the back, because there is no other way to win, it will be a pain for both of us. Even in Monte Carlo he was suffering, but he won. That he is suffering is not a problem for him as far as winning. The only chance you have is to play the 30-shot points, try to win them. Then you suffer in two.”
