Daniil Medvedev battled past good friend Andrey Rublev and the inhumanely hot conditions in New York to reach the semifinals of the 2023 US Open on Wednesday. Despite going a break down in each of the three sets, the Russian managed to wrap up the quarterfinal in straights, winning 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
Medvedev, who had complained about the heat during his time on the court, revealed how the heat affected him on the day and how he recovered from it during his press conference afterwards.
The Russian admitted that he was “kind of okay” after taking the time to sit down in the locker room and allowing himself to cool. However, he added that the heat was so bad that he couldn’t even see properly without adrenaline.
“It’s true that I’m feeling kind of okay now. I’m just pretty exhausted. Let’s say, yeah, do couple of interviews here and there straightaway, and it was tough. I was with an ice towel there. Everything was foggy, like I couldn’t see clearly. Because the match is over, so the adrenaline is not there anymore,” Daniil Medvedev said.
“So I was, like, a little bit shaky. Then I come to the locker room and that’s the toughest part because you kind of want to just sit there for hours. But you know that if you do it, it’s not a good recovery,” he added.
Daniil Medvedev then disclosed that his blood sugar had shot up too much, making him sweat “like hell” and making his head turn. The World No. 3 quickly asked his team to bring him “any food,” which helped him quite a bit.
“So I sat there for, like, 10, 15 minutes, went and did a quick ice bath. Changed. Went to eat. But had, I don’t know how you call it in English, when sugar blood, sugar levels go up,” Daniil Medvedev said.
“I started sweating, my head started turning. I said to my team, Please bring me any food. I was sitting there like this sweating like hell even with the AC on, and they brought some food and then I felt better. Yeah, that’s how it is sometimes,” he added.
“I was, like, just let me go somewhere, sit somewhere, just think about my life in general, stuff like this” – Daniil Medvedev
Daniil Medvedev also compared how he felt to what Formula 1 drivers must feel after similarly exhausting races like the Malaysia Grand Prix, having seen how drivers come out of their cars “dripping.”
Medvedev then joked that while he was happy to get the win, he was even happier that he got to leave the court and think about other things in life while sitting somewhere else, preferably someplace a little cooler.
“Formula 1 drivers used to say I think Malaysia Grand Prix is brutal, if I’m not wrong. They say it’s like after the race, and you could see the Netflix series, they go out like us today, like dripping. I will be honest, I was very happy to win the match, but, like, I almost couldn’t express the happiness,” Daniil Medvedev said.
“I was, like, just let me go somewhere, sit somewhere, just think about my life in general, stuff like this. And so, yeah, I do some karting and it’s very tough, but I don’t know how it is in the Formula 1 car in Malaysia. I think every sport is a struggle from time to time, and sometimes it’s easier,” he added.
Up next at the US Open, Daniil Medvedev will take on either Carlos Alcaraz or Alexander Zverev in the semifinals.