“They turned their back on me because I’m Russian,” Daniil Medvedev looks back on life during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
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Daniil Medvedev
Daniil Medvedev eased through his first round of US Open against Stefan Kozlov on Tuesday, defeating him 6-2, 6-4, 6-0. He will soon be playing his second-round match against French player, Arthur Rinderknech. Medvedev has been having a tough grand slam season. He did not play at Wimbledon due to their ban on Russian and Belarusian players because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and also suffered an early exit at the French Open.
Medvedev is the defending champion this year at the US Open Championship. He gave former World No. 1 Novak Djokovic an agonizing defeat last year and also stopped him from achieving a Calendar Grand Slam. Daniil Medvedev opened up about effects of the Russia-Ukraine war on athletes and how he is “all for peace.”
I’m trying to see person to person: Daniil Medvedev reflecting on his growth amidst the war
During the post-match press conference, World No. 1, Medvedev discussed the impact of the ongoing conflict on his life as a Russian athlete. He said, “I’m not at all mature or as other people can be but even in 26 years that I’m on earth I can feel like you know every year is different.” He then shared that in Russia, Christmas is not as important as New Year so every year on the 31st December they follow a tradition of asking themselves what did they learn that year.
He then opened up about losing friends after the beginning of the conflict. He said, “I don’t want to be rude or anything but I am trying to see person by person. I have a lot of friends from different countries from all over the world so when this happened some of them for whatever reason turned their back on me because I’m Russian.”
Medvedev further added, “You know about some Ukrainians, there are a lot of good Ukrainians and there are some bad Ukrainians, there are a lot of good Russians and there are some bad Russians. It’s really important, in my opinion, to see person by person.”
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Urvi Shrivastava
(87 Articles Published)