Daniil Medvedev spoke about the conversation he had with the Chinese player Zhizhen Zhang before facing Rafael Nadal in the US Open final. The Russian said. "We're really great friends when he practiced in our academy. I think maybe best friends there during this time.
Of course when he left, life is tough, so we never really spoke too much. But it's actually funny, because just before the final with Rafa, like, the morning before the final, he texted me, Hey, I just won my first challenger title, so you need to win your first Grand Slam tonight (smiling).
It didn't happen, but I really like Zhizhen. I really like his energy outside of the court and his game. Even when he practiced in other academy, everybody saw that he has a big game, big strikes. He can be top 100 easy. After when you get to top 100, it's tough to say whether you're going to be top 10, top 5, or you're going to just stay top 100.
But that's going to be the first step for him, and if he works hard, it's really achievable." On his St. Petersburg final win over Borna Coric, Medvedev added: "Stepping out there I felt straightaway that I make him kind of suffer.
He cannot really do anything against my game. So I just felt I need to continue, continue to push him, and finally I have to say the match was quite easy by the score. Yeah, everything stepped up this year, especially in USA, and that's what I was talking when I said that all this experience and confidence that I got during this USA trip and US Open, I think that showed also in the final against him."