Andrey Rublev praised his childhood friend and ATP Cup teammate Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday after the pair met in the Australian Open quarter-finals.
“If we take all the matches that I've played against him, today he played his best level,” said Rublev. “He was playing really well today, and he deserved to win because he was really better than me.
“You need to be focused 100 per cent every point, because as soon as you relax or something, then he will use the opportunity.”
Eleven days after joining forces to help Russia clinch the ATP Cup trophy, fourth seed Medvedev beat seventh seed Rublev 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena for a place in the semi-finals.
“There were only two turning [points] where I felt [something] could happen,” said Rublev. "At 5-5 in the first set, I had little chances that maybe if I would have broken him, it could be different story… and in the second set at 3-3, the break point that I had could [also] change [the match]. Because I had an easy, easy ball to finish [the point] and I didn't make it.”
The 23-year-old Rublev has yet to beat Medvedev in their five-match ATP Head2Head series.
“We're going to play I hope for many, many years, so at least once I think I will have a chance to win,” said Rublev, laughing. “Because every time I play him — at the [2020] US Open I had chances, I had set points. Here, I had break points… One day it's going to be my day.”
Rublev, who is now 8-1 on the 2021 season, is delighted with his Australian summer series, improving upon his fourth-round exit at Melbourne Park last year.
“It's a real success… I won the ATP Cup [and] got a lot of [FedEx ATP Rankings] points, which put me in a good position at the beginning of the year… I hope I can show [a] great level, not only now, but for the rest of the season.”
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/3u5FD7H
No comments:
Post a Comment