Daniil Medvedev explains why Cincinnati Masters will always be 'special' to him

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Daniil Medvedev says returning to Cincinnati always brings "special memories" to his mind as he will never forget winning his first Masters title there. In 2019, Medvedev became a Masters champion after beating David Goffin in the Cincinnati final.

Since then, Medvedev has won five more Masters titles. On Wednesday, world No 3 Medvedev made a winning start to his 2023 Cincinnati campaign after beating Lorenzo Musetti 6-3 6-2 in the second round. Before beating Musetti, Medvedev had a first-round bye in Cincinnati.

“It was my first Masters win, always special memories. In general, I like every tournament on tour. Sometimes it’s nice to be in the countryside: We’re living in a house with my coach, cooking for ourselves.

It’s a big change before New York. It’s great," Medvedev said, via The Tennis Letter.

Daniil Medvedev on Cincinnati:

“It was my 1st Masters win, always special memories. In general, I like every tournament on tour.

Sometimes it’s nice to be in the countryside: We’re living in a house with my coach, cooking for ourselves. It’s a big change before NY. It’s great” pic.twitter.com/3Nlz2EUJUF — The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) August 16, 2023

Medvedev on the fast Cincinnati courts

Medvedev likes fast hard courts but even he admitted that it took him some time to adjust to the fast courts in Cincinnati.

“I think it’s tough for anyone to be comfortable [quickly] here. Tough conditions here, they changed the court. But then it comes to being the better in the tough conditions, and that’s what I managed to do today.

We both made some mistakes, we both made some double faults and stuff like this, but I managed to be a little bit better in important moments and actually I felt like I was playing better and better during the match. So that’s a positive thing for the next round," Medvedev said.

Medvedev made a slow start against Musetti, losing his service in the first game of the match. Fortunately for Medvedev, he was able to quickly bounce back as the Russian broke back Musetti in the second and eighth games to overturn the early deficit and win the first set. In the second set, Musetti had a 2-1 lead before Medvedev won the next five games to complete a two-set win.