Daniil Medvedev suffered a shocking loss to Australia’s Alexei Popyrin in the second round of the Paris Masters on Wednesday after receiving a bye in the first round as he was seeded fourth. The Russian had entered the tournament as one of the favorites but had to suffer an early exit from France’s capital.
After his 4-6. 6-2, 6-7 loss against the Australian, Medvedev admitted the court was just too fast for him and he needed some time to adapt to it.
“Yeah, maybe, when I say a bit too fast, when it’s the fastest on tour, you can feel it, everyone can feel it, so we’re like a bit of surprised. We need time to adapt to it. I have a bigger problem on tour. You know, some players get advantaged by it; some players disadvantaged. It’s okay. It can happen. But it’s big disadvantage for me,” Daniil Medvedev said in the press conference.
Speaking on the ball quality, the Russian added that all six balls behaved differently, which shouldn’t be the case.
“As I say, some players will like this ball, so I get it. I’m crying because it disadvantages me. But if you take six balls out of the new balls out of the can, if you look closely and you bounce them, there are going to be six different balls. I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to be,” Medvedev added.
Meanwhile, after the third-round win against Matteo Arnaldi in the Shanghai Masters, Medvedev said that the balls used favored players like Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner as the duo can generate crazy power.
“I think it basically favors people who can benefit power from dead balls. Some have better quality with this. Some don’t. Actually the two best players at doing this.. they’re already the best players in the world.. and I’m sure they would be without the balls, but with these balls.. they’re the only players who can generate crazy power. It’s Jannik and Carlos. It gives them an extra edge,” Medvedev said.
Alcaraz is through to the third round in the Paris Masters whereas Sinner has withdrawn from the ATP 1000 event after catching a virus.