Daniil Medvedev has admitted that he lacked motivation ahead of his thrilling defeat to Novak Djokovic at the Nittto ATP Finals.
The Russian’s season is now officially over after losing all three of his group stage matches in last set tiebreakers.
His latest defeat came against Novak Djokovic where he lost a three hour and 11 minute battle to the Serb.
Medvedev had served for the match at 5-4 but couldn’t close out the win as he ends the Nitto ATP Finals with a 0-3 record.
After the match Medvedev admitted that he lacked motivation heading into the match and described his failure to serve out the match as a ‘disaster’, “Yeah, before the match I didn’t have much motivation, so was not easy,” Medvedev admitted in his post match press conference.
“It was not easy. But during the match I thought I saw he was going 100%. I
was like, All right, let’s play, let’s have fun. That’s what happened. That’s it.
“It’s disaster. What I’m really happy is that this match didn’t count in going out of the group, otherwise I would have two matches where I lost serving for the match. At least this one didn’t count. But, yeah, that’s awful. I’m going to try to be better next time. I have no other choice.”
The Nitto ATP Finals signals the end of another great season for Medvedev who was world number one and reached the Australian Open final.
However Medvedev admitted that after the Australian Open, his season was underwhelming by his standards, “In general after Australian Open I cannot find huge result from myself, even if I made some finals, won one tournament,” Medvedev said.
“I didn’t play bad. I mean, I’m in Torino in the top eight. But I would expect more from myself. I mean, today I played great. Let’s be honest. I’m confident I’m going to be able to do something big in the future.
“Just need to continue working. Going to be sad for one, two days, then enjoy my days off, then get ready for the next season.”
Medvedev will be aiming to make the next step next season as he looks to claim his maiden Grand Slam title and be a step closer to competing with the likes of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal consistently.
When asked in his press conference whether he was on their level, Medvedev gave a realistic response, “Novak is a league of his own, that’s
for sure, with Rafa and Roger. Then it’s the rest,” Medvedev emphatically responded.
“I definitely don’t put myself in there. We had some tough battles. He’s leading in head-to-head, even if I won some important matches. Yeah, that’s all I can say. Maybe when we play, yes, but in general you cannot compare
myself to him or any one of the big three.”
