Daniil Medvedev says he believes there are only around 10 players who can play a good level of tennis in Indian Wells as he took a swipe at the court conditions.
The former US Open champion wasn’t afraid to express his feelings about the speed of the court during his roller-coaster 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, win over Ilya Ivashka. A player currently ranked 79 places lower than his in the rankings at 85th in the world. Overall, Medvedev produced 26 winners against 19 unforced errors in the match.
It was after dropping the second set that the Russian began to complain about the conditions on court one at Indian Wells. Prior to taking a toilet break, Medvedev sarcastically said he would take 25 minutes to keep in line with the speed of the court.
“I’m gonna pee as slow as this court is. So you can take 25 minutes. The court is slow so I go slow, I take my time,” he said to umpire Mohamed Lahyani.
Lahyani attempted to ease Medvedev’s frustration by telling him that he needed to accept the circumstances but it only added fuel to the fire. This year is Medvedev’s sixth appearance at Indian Wells. He is yet to progress beyond the fourth round of the tournament.
“I don’t accept this. They say on the fact sheet this is hard courts. This is not hard courts,” he responded to Layyani.
Medvedev, who is the fifth seed in this year’s draw, later said during his press conference that the conditions in Indian Wells are ‘very tough’ for everybody playing and only a handful of players are able to produce good tennis. The event is played at an altitude of 42 meters which means that the balls are travelling faster through the air. However, it is difficult to adjust to certain shots during rallies as the surface is notoriously slow.
“(It’s) Not easy to play here. I feel like there are 10 players that have the quality to play good here because they have something in their game that can help them. Other than that everyone is struggling,” he said.
“You can see a lot of matches 6-1 in one of the sets, and you look at it on TV and you’re like the other one is not playing bad, just a few moments. You miss a few shots on important moments after a 25-shot rally.”
The 27-year-old will next take on Alexander Zverev who defeated Emil Ruusuvuori 7-5, 1-6, 7-5. It will be the 13th Tour meeting between the two players with their head-to-head level at 6-6.
Medvedev is currently on a 16-match winning streak and has won 32 out of his last 35 sets played on the Tour.
