‘Not tight but hands are shaking’ – Medvedev confesses on-court nerves

Daniil Medvedev grabbed a pen at the end of his Nitto ATP Finals win over Alexander Zverev to write the traditional message on the on-court camera.

His words were a little cryptic this time round: “Not tight but hands are shaking”.

But he took the opportunity in his post-match press conference to elaborate a little – and revealed that he still gets nervous, even when he is hitting brilliant winners and looking strong, as he was against the German on Tuesday.

“Definitely nerves is something that can play a tricky role, because I feel like sometimes it can make you good,” he said. “Like, you feel you’re nervous, just go for the shot, go for the winner. Sometimes you make it, you make the crowd go crazy, if you broke or you won the match, and that’s where nerves help you bring the best out of you and the best decision. Sometimes, well, yeah, one shot you can miss just because your hand was not as free as it can be.

Read also

Medvedev streak continues in Turin against Zverev

Tennis Majors

“I think second set on these fast courts where I had a lot of opportunities to maybe get closer to the match win on his serve was not easy, because it’s like you feel the moment that you can, you know, win the match there, he’s definitely not going to make it easy for you, and there were a few points where I could have been better, and I think the nerves were part of it.

“But then third-set tiebreak, of course both of us were shaken. That’s completely normal. Everybody would. Novak, Rafa, Roger. That’s why I found it funny, because I think on the TV you don’t really see it because I was still going for the shots. I was not missing that much. I made a few great shots, and it was enough to win the match.

“So I guess people could look at it and say, ‘Wow, he’s not tight at all,’ but, yeah, hands were shaking.”

The world No 2 took his third match point to win against Zverev in a deciding set tiebreak after dropping the second set, also in a tiebreak.

Read also

How Daniil Medvedev harnessed his mental power to become one of the best players in the world

Tennis Majors