World No. 10 Daniil Medvedev commented on his preparation for the Madrid tournament.
When asked by a journalist about his practice session with Karen Khachanov, where a significant number of service games were lost (observing scores like being down 1-4, winning the set 6-4, then starting the next set 0-3), and if this was normal or frustrating, Medvedev explained:
“This is clay. In Monte Carlo, we saw that almost everyone was losing their serves, except perhaps those who were already completely adjusted to the surface and knew exactly what to do. Even someone like Musetti, and he was still losing sets heavily, like 6-1.”
He continued, “On clay, you have to be prepared for this. I did get annoyed during the practice with Karen, but I understood that this is clay – there would be opportunities to break back. And that`s what happened. If we had continued the second set, it would likely have been the same pattern. We had a similar match in Monte Carlo where I was leading but wasn`t overly frustrated about losing my serve.”
Medvedev concluded, “Of course, you want to win your service games, but on clay, returns land more often, and the point just continues into a rally.”
Rupert Hartwell 
Adrian Whitmore