Daniil Medvedev admitted he is looking forward to the end of the 2024 season after his ill-tempered defeat to Taylor Fritz at the ATP Finals in Turin. 

The world No 4 declared that he has felt “zero pleasure of being on the court” for “a long time” as he reiterated his frustration with the tennis balls being used on the ATP Tour.

Medvedev was beaten 6-4, 6-3 by Fritz in his opening round robin match at the 2024 edition of the ATP Finals.

The Russian made a solid start, but he collapsed to lose the first set when serving at 4-5 by hitting three successive double faults.

This led Medvedev to destroy his racket, and his emotions boiled over again when a mishit Fritz forehand saw him lose his serve to fall 2-4 behind in the second set.

The 28-year-old was handed a point penalty for hurling his racket and damaging a courtside microphone and he continued to throw his racket around after losing points.

Before Fritz served at 4-2, 40-0, Medvedev held the racket by the head and upside down when waiting to return.

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Here is everything Medvedev said in his press conference following his loss to Fritz in Turin.

Q. Bad luck, Daniil. Not the start you wanted obviously. What do you need to work on for your next match on Tuesday?

Medvedev: No idea. Just try to do better. If it doesn’t work, I’m happy to be out. If it works, I’m happy to be still in.

Q. First of all, do you remember last time you made three double faults in a row? Second question: Would you define this surface? Slow, very slow, super slow?

Medvedev: Yeah, I heard it’s slower, but it’s still pretty fast. I would call it maybe either average or average fast. I don’t think it’s slow.

Three double faults? I don’t know. I probably did with Popyrin, but I’m not sure. I did like 14, so it might have been there. It’s okay. As I said, happens. I will work on it, try to fix it. So far I didn’t manage to do it since last match. I have a minimum two more matches here – or maximum – and we’ll see how it goes.

Q. Today doing all the things with the rackets. What comes through your mind when you do that? What do you expect to happen when you do it?

Medvedev: Unfortunately, nothing comes from my mind, and I expect nothing. I get angry, frustrated. This time completely with myself, not with anyone. Just with myself. Yeah, very frustrated.

I mean, tough break point. Shank, on the line. I was like, ‘Whatever, I lost the match. I don’t care.’ I mean, you have to finish the match. You cannot withdraw, no? I just finished the match.

Q. Were you surprised the way Taylor was staying in the long, long rallies, winning a lot of those long rallies?

Medvedev: Not at all. The balls make that everyone can do it now. So not at all surprised. I have this every day, day in, day out, since like two, three years.

Every practice is a struggle. Every match is a struggle. I was holding for long time. Now I feel zero pleasure of being on the court. So no surprise at all about the match today.

Q. Daniil, are you just hoping for this year to be finished?

Medvedev: 100%. It’s the first time I say it. Usually, like, ATP Finals were not easy for me. The only time I won it was when the year started [again at the] US Open [in 2020], so it’s a little bit different.

But like I always fight. As I said, since long time I fight with something that doesn’t depend on myself. I’m a good fighter. I am still four in the world. Might be five if Taylor plays good here. Still pretty decent. I’m sure a lot of guys would like it.

But now I’m tired to fight it. I’m tired to fight against something that doesn’t depend on myself. I’ll see how it goes. Today, actually I had my chances. I’ll have them the next matches. If it doesn’t work out, I go on holiday. I’m happy.

Q. You made a few comments with the balls on tour over the last few weeks. Will that affect your preparation for next season? Will your team try to make adjustments for 2025?

Medvedev: 100%. That’s the goal. We of course always try. We will try because, again, I feel like I still can win against a lot of players. I could have won the match today being maybe in a better shape or even being just a bit more lucky and not hitting for sure three double faults.

For sure we will try something. We’re not sure it’s going to work. We will have a good pre-season, try to see what I can do better from my side. As I say, I feel like I’m in a big disadvantage, but I need to do something with it.

For the moment, I couldn’t find the exact way, like I can find the way through some matches like Shanghai, Beijing, even US Open. I can fight my way. I can try to find solutions during the match. I didn’t find the exact solution of, okay, I come to the court and I know kind of how I want to play and what I want to do.

As he said, literally everyone can stay in the rally with me right now. Every match I come, I know that basically I have to hit whatever. It doesn’t matter. Tactics matter less. It’s just about fighting and serving well. So I’m going to work a lot on pre-season to try to find some solutions, for sure.

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