Medvedev gives Nadal lowdown after practise set

The 2024 Roland Garros draw produced a blockbuster first-round match on Thursday, when 14-time champion Rafael Nadal was drawn to face Alexander Zverev. Earlier in the day, fifth seed Daniil Medvedev hit with the 37-year-old Spaniard.

Speaking on Friday, the 28-year-old provided insight into where he feels Nadal is at after playing a practise set against the former No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

“I practised with Rafa yesterday and he played pretty well, like I felt much better than what I saw on TV in Rome and Madrid,” Medvedev said during his pre-tournament press conference.

“I didn't feel I was bad. We played a set and more and he beat me. It will be interesting for me to see how he plays against Zverev, because once again, Rafa will always be Rafa. He won here 14 times. Until he plays here, even if he may not be favourite, he can perfectly win. I don't know. He may have lost three or four times. The match will be interesting.”

Medvedev admitted he was ‘happy’ he wasn’t drawn to face the 92-time tour-level titlist in his opening match. The 28-year-old will instead face German Dominik Koepfer in the first round and is expecting a difficult test.

“Yeah, tough opponent, so going to be a good test,” said Medvedev, who leads Koepfer 3-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. “So far in Roland Garros if I go through first round I start to play well and can do good results, but a lot of times I lost first round. Big motivation to pass the first round, a big step and then try to win, to gain sensations and play better and better.”

Medvedev holds a 7-7 record at the clay-court major, with his best result a quarter-final showing in 2021. The 2020 Nitto ATP Finals champion, who is 6-3 on clay this year, won his only title on the surface in Rome last season.