Daniil Medvedev: ‘I could be out for half a year if I continued against Novak Djokovic’

Daniil Medvedev says he would not have played the Astana final even if he had beaten Novak Djokovic.

Medvedev retired at the end of the second set tiebreak in what initially appeared to be unusual circumstances.

He had won the opening set and did not appear to be in any physical distress, but after Djokovic levelled the match the Russian simply handed the walkover and a place in the final to his opponent.

Daniil Medvedev, though, has explained that while it may have looked unusual, he had sustained an adductor injury and he was genuinely worried about doing further damage.

“If I play one more set, I could do it, but I could probably miss half a year instead of one month,” he explained.

“So I actually have no idea what is fair. If I won, I would not play the final.

“It’s the second time in my life I retired like this with a pulled muscle. So here, on the second point of the tie-break, I felt a little bit strange pop in my adductor.

“I first thought maybe it’s a cramp and after the point I was like, `No, probably not a cramp, and during the tie-break, I felt I can play like 5, 10 more points but that’s it.”

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