Daniil Medvedev suggests Novak Djokovic default changed nothing for him

World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev suggested the Novak Djokovic default didn't change much for him since the Serb wasn't even in his part of the US Open main draw. 

No. 1 seed Djokovic was defaulted from his US Open round-of-16 clash against Pablo Carreno Busta after hitting the lines women. 

On Wednesday, Medvedev handed a straight-set defeat to No. 10 seed Andrey Rublev 7-6 (6) 6-3 7-6 (5) to reach the US Open semifinal. 

"No, to be honest with you, yeah, I said it already, that the problem is that Djokovic was not in my half even. So in order to meet him, I would need to be in the final," Medvedev said when asked about the Djokovic default.

"So if I'm going to be in the final, then of course there is no Djokovic, maybe I'm going to say to myself, Yeah, this is an opportunity here, maybe bigger than if I would face Djokovic.

"Right now I still have semis to play. Djokovic is the other side of draw, so that's how I think pragmatically, and that's how I take it."

Medvedev struggled a bit with his shoulder in the third set but he expects to be fine going forward.

"No, no, everything is quite fine. I just got a little bit tired at the end of the third set with really physical match that we had. My shoulder started to hurt just a little. And in order not to finish the third set, imagine I would serve one serve, and I don't know, just pull my shoulder.

"I call the physio, so he took care of it. I was cramping a little bit, so he also masked me, and it helped a lot. As you saw at the end, I was able to be 100%.

Medvedev preparing for a tough Dominic Thiem challenge 

Medvedev plays next second-seeded Thiem, who beat rising Australian star Alex de in straight sets to make his maiden US Open semifinal. 

Medvedev hasn't dropped a set at the US Open so far but he knows it will be extremely tough against Thiem.

"Yeah, Dominic is a tough opponent to play, especially of course on clay. I got to feel it last year in the final of Barcelona," Medvedev said.

"On hard I think it's a little bit easier, but in a way. When I say "easier," he just made final of Australian Open. For me it will be easier for me to play him on hard courts than clay courts.

"Yeah, I mean, he tries to turn around with a forehand and just to go for it. I think there is not much you can do than just to try to actually face it and see what you can do with it. Yeah, you can only do it during the match."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/32jIBKc