Daniil Medvedev responds to Novak Djokovic’s comments about the conditions in Shanghai after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas

Daniil Medvedev has battled into the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Masters after a hard-fought win over Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Reaching the Shanghai Masters quarterfinals for the fourth time in his past five appearances, the Russian needed 84 minutes to overcome his Greek opponent. Medvedev beat Tsitsipas 6-4, 7-5 on the Stadium court, having won his previous two matches on the Grandstand court.

The victor has since discussed the conditions at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament, referencing his fellow icon Novak Djokovic, who was beaten by Hubert Hurkacz in his opening match. That shock loss arrived just days after Djokovic won the China Open title in Beijing, beating Medvedev en route.

Medvedev was asked on court what he did particularly well against Tsitsipas, to which he replied: “First of all, super strange, the court is like three times faster than the other one. And so when I heard Novak after his match and he said the court is so much faster than Beijing, I was like okay let’s see. The next day I played, but I played on Grandstand. I was like what is he talking about? I mean, it’s the same or even slower.

“And this one in the warm-up, I was like, it’s so fast. Which is good for me, but I needed to reset because it’s a completely different court from what I played before. But that helped me I think. I played really aggressive. I put a lot of pressure on him and managed to beat him.”

And discussing his overall game this week, he said: “Playing great. Again today it’s a completely different game style than what you play on a Grandstand. But I played great, served great. I think zero great points to save. So pretty happy about it.”

Medvedev also spoke with the media once the dust had settled on his win over Tsitsipas, with whom he has a thrilling rivalry. The pair have now met 16 times throughout their careers, with Medvedev leading his Greek counterpart 11-5.

Opening up on their rivalry, he commented: “Yeah, I mean, I think it’s just that we are both good players. Sometimes we play a bit better, sometimes a bit worse in terms of throughout the season. But, for example, this one, I think Stefanos in the beginning of the season maybe was not having the best time.

“But when we played a match, I felt like he played better than when we played in the semifinals of Slams. And that’s, you know, in the one match, everything is possible. We both now know how to hit forehand, backhand, so I’m happy that I, in my opinion, managed to do it better than him today.”

And speaking of his consistency in China, Medvedev noted: “Look, I don’t like to, I want to say that I’m playing great as well. But I feel like the balls here, which are the same since three weeks, the courts suit me well. Like, I feel like I understand what I’m doing on the court. I understand which shots I want to make.

“I’m not thinking, like, why the hell is my backhand going into the net when I was practicing it for three weeks, but it doesn’t go in, referencing the US. But it’s okay. Look, just try my best, whichever week I have. Even in US, when I was losing first rounds, I was trying my best. I’m happy that here my best is better than sometimes there.”

The hard work will now continue for Medvedev, who meets Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Masters after he knocked out Zizou Bergs. The winner of that match will take on either Casper Ruud or Rafael Jodar for a place in the final. The Russian icon has been there and done it all before in Shanghai, lifting the trophy in 2019.