Daniil Medvedev apologises to reporter at Wimbledon after beating Jannik Sinner

Daniil Medvedev apologised to a reporter at Wimbledon after being unable to answer their question in a press conference. The Russian overcame world No.1 Jannik Sinner in a thrilling four-hour five-set match to reach the semi-finals at the All England Club.

After beating Sinner 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-3 Medvedev now faces Carlos Alcaraz in the final four. It is a repeat of the same semi-final from 12 months ago which Alcaraz won in straight sets.

Medvedev’s defeat of Italian Sinner was a record-breaking 36th five-set match at Wimbledon this year. No single Grand Slam has ever had more five-setters in the Open Era.

The world No.5 was asked why he thinks that is the case, but was unable to offer an explanation and said sorry. He replied: “I don’t know. Maybe the level is closer than before.

“In my opinion, grass is always a surface where it’s very tough to win like straight three sets, like [6-]4-[6-]4-[6-]4. One break can decide the outcome of the set.

“You do one bad game on your serve, double-fault, easy miss or something like this, and you can lose the set. In my opinion, it’s more about grass court tennis itself. So, yeah, I don’t know. I have no answer. Sorry.”

Medvedev is now looking to avenge the one-sided manner of his semi-final loss to Alcaraz on Centre Court a year ago.

He added: “[I] Just [need to] play better. It’s always a question, did I serve not well enough or have Carlos been amazing on the return this day last year because he won?

“I have to serve better. That’s still the most important thing on grass. You serve aces, you serve on the line, you’re less in trouble, and you feel better. That’s where you can put pressure on his serve.

“Yeah, then he’s a tough player. He can hit strong. He can slice. He can dropshot. He can volley. He knows how to play tennis. Just need to be at my best, like kind of how I’ve been today, and try to win.”

Told he’d lost all of his previous five matches against top-five opponents before beating Sinner, having also lost all of his last five meetings with the world’s top-ranked player, Medvedev smiled and said: “I didn’t know.”

He continued: “Now that you said it, yes [it feels big]. I didn’t know I lost the last five against top five. Like, I’m never scared to play them.

“Yeah, I’m happy. At one moment I remember there was a big moment, Rotterdam, then I won four out of five tournaments. I got out of top 10. I think there was something like I didn’t win 10 matches against top-10 players.

“All of them were different. Some I lost close ones. Some I was not feeling good, whatever, et cetera. But I always knew I have the tennis inside of me.

“Then I beat Felix [Auger-Aliassime]. Someone told me the same. Well, you haven’t won a top 10 in 10 matches. I was, like, That’s terrible, but now it’s better. Then I won like six in a row or something like that. It’s the same.

“Sometimes it happens. Every match is a different story. I’m happy today I managed to do it. In two days I have another chance against a top-five player.”