'I don't care if Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal is here, I want to win the tournament' - Daniil Medvedev after reaching US open semi-final

Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev stormed into his third consecutive semi-final in the US Open after defeating Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-0, 4-6, 7-5. The US open is missing some of the big players, including Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who had pulled out of the tournament.

Advertisment

Americal tennis star Frances Tiafoe had claimed the absence of big players has given other players a bit more chance to claim the title. When Medvedev was asked to give his opinion on Tiafoe’s comment, the Russian responded by saying that he always tries to give his best performance and doesn’t think who’s on the other side of the court.

"I don't care if Roger or Rafa is here," the 25-year-old said. "I want to win the tournament. It's going to be tougher if they were here, and of course it would be tougher if they would be 30 years old. But I just want to do my best, so I don't care if they are here or not."

Daniil Medvedev however admitted that the absence of big names makes it a little easier for the younger players to make it to the top 4 as the legends always grabbed the two sports in the semi-finals.

Advertisment

"Yeah, of course now Rafa and Roger, as we see, are getting a little bit older, playing a little bit less tournaments, more injured," Daniil Medvedev said. "Before it was even tougher, because, yeah, it depends which breakthrough you're talking about. To be in the top 100 or top 10 or top 5. So before the top 5 was basically taken by three of them. So there were two spots left."

While Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are not participating in the tournament, another legend Novak Djokovic is likely to be an obstacle for Medvedev's route to the title. The Russian is likely to face Djokovic in the final but he is not intimidated by the World No 1 and said that anyone can beat anyone on their day.

"I don't think about him (Novak Djokovic), because as we saw, anybody can beat anybody," Daniil Medvedev said. "If he's in the final, and if I'm there, I'm happy. He's also happy, I guess."