Daniil Medvedev has told Eurosport "I want to play on grass, I want to play Wimbledon" as he looks ahead to the summer and returning to the year's third Grand Slam that he had to miss last season.
Like all Russian and Belarusian players, Medvedev was unable to compete at Wimbledon last year due to the tournament’s ban, but he maximised his opportunities on grass at other events outside the UK, making finals in 's-Hertogenbosch and Halle.
His only non-hard court title came on grass in Mallorca back in 2021 and he feels it’s a surface he can do well on if given the chance to participate in Wimbledon this year.
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“I like grass but it’s a very tough surface, it’s a little bit tougher than hard courts, and that’s where I think Novak is amazing winning so many grass-court tournaments,” he told Eurosport on Thursday following his 6-3 6-2 quarter-final win over Borna Coric in Dubai.
“Because you can really just get a guy who is going to serve good this day and you have to win the tie-breaks. Novak managed to win so many times 6-4 6-4 6-4, I actually don’t know how he does it.
“So that’s where grass is a little bit tough for me, like for example, I lost to [Tim] Van Rijthoven in the [s-Hertogenbosch] final last year and before the final I was feeling great, playing great, and he was having a good day, hitting bombs, after the match, I was like, 'okay, one hour, he just hit winners all over the place and I lost'.
“This on hard courts is a little bit less probable to happen. But I want to play on grass, I want to play Wimbledon.
"I don’t know what their decision is going to be. I’m just going to wait for it and hopefully, I can play Wimbledon this year and show some great results.”

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Speaking about taking the positives from his Wimbledon ban during the North American hard-court swing late last year, he took it all in his stride.
“You have to appreciate it because I definitely couldn’t change the decision of Wimbledon. I have to follow the rules,” he said at the Canadian Open in Montreal.
“If you focus on the negative part. For sure I wanted to play Wimbledon, I wanted to do well there. I always want to be in the biggest tournaments and try to play good.
“You can just stay in this circle of, 'oh, my God, I was not able to be there'.
“What matters is playing tennis. I really enjoy my job. Yeah, again, it’s about following the rules.
“The rule at one point was very clear that we have to play under a neutral flag. Me, I’m still Daniil Medvedev. I still want to win big titles, win big matches or small matches. It doesn’t change.”
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