Transcript: Daniil Medvedev - Rolex Shanghai Masters: ATP Masters 1000 Tournament

THE MODERATOR: Tough luck, Daniil. What do you think made the difference today with Sebe?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: He played well. I should have won the tiebreak but didn't. That's the biggest difference. Gave him a little boost so he started playing even better in the second set.

I was, for sure, down mentally after such a first set. That's it. The tiebreak was the biggest difference because in the tiebreak he actually didn't play that good, I felt like, comparing to all the other match. I didn't use this opportunity and I'm going home.

Q. Is it because of the court? You mentioned earlier that it is a slower court and slower than you expected. It's supposed to be one of the fastest on tour, so...

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I mean, it's not because of the court, but I do think the court maybe favors him a little bit. Was kind of fast enough for him to make winners, but slow enough to have time to kind of set up his shot. So I think, yeah, for him was good.

Me, playing yesterday, I got used to it, so I was also playing better today than yesterday. Yeah, kind of one court always going to favor one player more than the other, and don't think I lost kind of because of it.

Q. You've played a lot of matches this year. How are you feeling at this stage of the season?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Yeah, I'm feeling fine, but actually today I was just a little bit tired. But it's also sometimes when you are losing and the match is tough you feel more tired. If I would be winning, I would probably feel fresher.

Good thing is I lost early, so I have some time. I'm going to be playing Vienna next, so I have some time maybe even to take just a little bit of time off and then get back to practice. Hopefully be a hundred percent fresh for three last tournaments of the year.

Q. So you played the finals in Beijing, and now the third round of Shanghai. How do you conclude this China trip?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Not amazing because, I mean, for sure, Shanghai is really important. It's a Masters 1000, so I wanted to do better. If we don't talk about tennis, I love being back in China, so I think that's kind of also important. I felt good being here, so I'm a little bit, not a little bit, I'm very disappointed to lose.

Beijing was a good tournament, but same. Don't get the title, so it's kind of, yeah, okay, I played good there, I beat good guys, but always want to get the title. Here, disappointing result, but that happens and I'm going to try to do better next time in China and next tournaments this year.

Q. I was just wondering, is there any one element of Sebe's game that sort of troubles you the most?

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: I would say serve, but the thing is that I watched his results and I doubt he serves like this all the time, because with how he served today, I consider myself someone who is a good returner, like I break, I don't know the real statistic, but I would think I'm somewhere in top 5 breaking the opponent's serve. He was just 210 on the line almost all the time.

I had one break point in the match, the only time again where he served maybe a little bit worse in the tiebreak, but tiebreak is small part of the match. The question is, why did he serve like this today and not the other days, because, again, if he would serve like this all the time, he would win more matches.

That's how tennis is, you know. He was on a good day, he played good, won a good set point. I made double faults on a set point, and that's why he's through to the next round.

Q. Commiserations on your loss. I just wondered who you think will be taking your title this year now.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: Tough to say. I would say, in general, if we talk like about shape right now, Carlos is just, at the moment, he's, let's say, the player like Novak, Rafa were before. Every time he's in the tournament he's the biggest, or when Novak is there, one of the two biggest contenders for the title.

Jannik is in great shape, let's see how physically he can adapt to also playing Beijing last week. So I would say they are the two biggest favorites.

But at the same time, that's why we like tennis. Maybe Jannik loses today, Carlos loses tomorrow, and it's all over. But, yeah, so, let's see. That's why tennis is interesting, we can never know.