Medvedev on the US Open conditions: “One player is gonna die”

Conditions at the US Open continued to be rough for Wednesday’s quarter-final contest between Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev. Medvedev got off the court in straight sets.

Daniil Medvedev, US Open 2023 – © Antoine Couvercelle / Panoramic

Ricky Dimon

September 7, 2023

The current heat wave in New York has been a big story — perhaps the biggest story — of week two at the US Open.

Monday night’s fourth-round match-up between Alexander Zverev and Jannik Sinner has been the most obviously example of conditions playing a real part in the competition. Zverev needed four hours and 41 minutes to outlast Sinner 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in a match that saw both players struggle physically.

Even though Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev played for fewer than three hours in their quarter-final match on Wednesday afternoon, they also felt it. In fact, Medvedev — who prevailed 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 — at one point turned to a courtside camera to offer some commentary on the situation.

“You can imagine,” he quipped. “One player (is) gonna die and they’re gonna see.”

Unsurprisingly, Medvedev opened his press conference by addressing the same subject.

I don’t think I had any left.
Daniil Medvedev

“I could talk a lot,” the 2021 US Open champion commented. “(They were) brutal conditions for both of us. I have no skin left on my nose here (pointing), and, like, here it’s red — but it’s not because of the sun. So it’s not like you’re burned, but I have no skin left. I just saw Andrey in the locker room and his face very red, and it’s also not because of the sun so I guess it’s the same. That tells everything; like, we left everything out there.

“The thing is that even if [the match] would go further, I think we would still leave even more. I don’t think I had anything left, but if the match would go on I would find something more. And the only thing that is a little bit, let’s call it dangerous, is that the question is, ‘how far could we go?’ Maybe we could go five sets and (either) we would struggle a little bit next day and it would be fine, or we have a person [like] Yibing Wu, who [collapsed] in Washington, DC.”

“In the end, the best players prove that they are ready” says Medvedev

Medvedev, however, knows that nothing can be done. He dismissed the possibility of changing Grand Slam matches from best-of-five to best-of-three in extreme conditions. Rublev, who fell to 0-9 lifetime in major quarter-finals, agreed that the bottom line is players just have to deal with it.

“I’m not even thinking about my health,” the world No 8 explained. “I don’t know. “At these moments I’m thinking I need to fight; doesn’t matter how tough (it is). I mean, the sport is not easy and you need to be ready for everything that can happen.

“In the end, the best players prove that they are ready — and that’s why they are the best. Yesterday Novak (Djokovic) was playing in the same conditions and nothing happened, and he was able to win still the match against really a good player, against Taylor (Fritz).

“So there is something about the best players. They do better.”