Medvedev praises Alcaraz, leaves Indian Wells with 'no regrets'

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Defeated but not deflated, Daniil Medvedev is looking to take the positives from his run to the BNP Paribas Open final after he lost to Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday’s title match.

“I'm really, really happy with two weeks,” Medvedev said in his post-match press conference. “Today, the first thing I asked myself in the locker room was I don't feel I have any regrets. ‘Do you have any regrets?’ My coach said. Yeah, we can talk about one shot here and there, but in general the match was not bad. He's playing good.

“He managed in the first set at one moment to raise his level. I kind of managed to be there and to try to catch his level, but I was just a little bit down. In the end, this down was going down, down, down, and he was going up, up, up. So the result is not expected but is a fair result for the match that it was. But I'm happy.”

Medvedev also lost to Alcaraz, who is No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings, in last year’s Indian Wells final. The 28-year-old earned wins against seeds Sebastian Korda, Grigor Dimitrov, Holger Rune and Tommy Paul this fortnight but struggled to cope with Alcaraz’s game.

The 20-year-old leads Medvedev 4-2 in the pair's Lexus ATP Head2Head series, and the 28-year-old broke down the task of playing the Spaniard in Indian Wells.

“Carlos, his ball goes so fast that it goes fast from the beginning to the end,” Medvedev said. “Basically it's an advantage. It's an advantage because when we played some rallies today, there were not so many, but when I managed to set up a rally, I felt like the only thing I can do is hit strong but not really put him in trouble, and when he makes one good shot I'm in trouble and I lose the point.

“It's tough. Mentally it's not easy to play against this. To be honest, in the second set, I felt a little bit out of solutions. Yeah, it's not an easy feeling, because you have to try to do better.”

Medvedev is now 14-3 on the season, having advanced to the final at the Australian Open in January. The World No. 4, who has claimed six of the nine ATP Masters 1000s, will head to Miami where he will defend his title.