Daniil Medvedev aims strong run at Nitto ATP Finals

World No. 6 Daniil Medvedev has underlined that the Vienna player field is extremely strong and he doesn't expect to have an easy job in neither of his matches at the tournament.

Medvedev, seeded at No. 4, was drawn to meet Alex de Minaur in the first round, who finished runner-up to Ugo Humbert in last week's Antwerp final. 

Medvedev could potentially meet defending champion and home favorite Dominic Thiem in the Vienna semifinal.

"The tournament here in Vienna is actually really strong, if you look at the seeded players and the rankings of all of the players,” Medvedev said, per the ATP website. “The first rounds, some of them are just really, really strong, so it is always challenging to go really, really deep in this tournament. Even being in the semi-final will be a success already and if I manage to meet Dominic there, it will hopefully be a great match to watch.”

Medvedev excited about playing the Nitto ATP Finals 

Medvedev, who made his debut at The O2 Arena last year, has already clinched a spot for this year's Nitto ATP Finals and this season he wants to make it past the Round Robin stage in London.

"When you qualify there it means that you made an outstanding season, especially when you do it for the first time. When you are young you dream of it, when you start to play Futures or Challengers, you think it is impossible to be one of the Top 8 players of the season because you know you have to make a few semi-finals at a Grand Slam, maybe a final and be good in the Masters 1000s, which is not easy,” Medvedev noted. “When you get there, it is one of the dreams and goals in your life come true. The next goal is to win a match there, the next goal is to win a tournament there or [qualify] out of the group. I take it step-by-step but, of course, being there two years in a row is still a big achievement.”

Russia has some of the most promising names on the Tour as Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov have also enjoyed success on the biggest stage.

"We made [it onto] the same TV show in Russia, which is quite famous on the main channel. Karen did it after he won Paris-Bercy, I did it after my run, actually after I won St. Petersburg and Andrey did it after he won St. Petersburg. Three years in a row, three different people, so it is inspiring. Hopefully one day there is going to be three Russians in the Top 10 [at the same time]," Medvedev claimed.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2Tst1Xj