Daniil Medvedev has addressed a long-standing theory that he “hates” Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev.
The trio are all representing Team Europe at this week’s Laver Cup. But there has been plenty of bad blood between them previously.
Medvedev and Tsitsipas had an infamous fight at the Miami Open in 2018 while the Russian has often traded barbs with Zverev in post-match press conferences.
It could make for an awkward environment on Team Europe. But the world No. 5 And the world No. 5 has now confirmed that he gets on fine with both men.
Asked how easy it was to start supporting Tsitsipas and Zverev as teammates, Medvedev replied: “No, to be honest, I don’t think it’s that tough, because we, for sure when we play sometimes in the press conference, we can, you know, say some things.
“And we’re not best friends with them, that’s reality, but I think we all have respect for each other. So we’re here, we support 100 per cent each other, and honestly, at least for me, it’s an easy switch.”
While the 2021 US Open champion hasn’t always seen eye-to-eye with his two rivals, he also believes things have been blown out of proportion.
Medvedev continued: “I think there is, you know, I see this in other sports, in tennis, also, especially with social media, we love to — something happens, let’s say I scream on umpire, that’s not good, and then for ten years we put it, TikTok, Instagram, this video, they remake it with music, et cetera, we exaggerate things.
“So what happened with me, Sascha, Stefanos, yeah, we played some matches. Sometimes we had some fights. Sometimes someone said something in the press conference. And it’s okay. In one month, we don’t remember it too much. We still rivals.
“But people tend to exaggerate it. Oh, my God, they hate each other. It’s such a crazy thing. No, it’s okay, we respect each other. Here I think we support each other like never before, and it’s a funny feeling.”
