Daniil Medvedev has praised Carlos Alcaraz after losing in the semi-final of Wimbledon 2023 in London.
Medvedev, 27, played his first-ever Wimbledon semi-final and has now reached at least the quarter-finals in all four majors.
However, the Russian had nothing but respect for his opponent who ended his Wimbledon run saying that he is a very strong player and compared him to the big three.
"He's a very strong player," Medvedev said on Alcaraz. "I would say in general to compare like the Big 3, they're amazing, they win so many Grand Slams, they win so many matches. He's kind of like them. He's still 20. Already has one Grand Slam. Playing great. Been No. 1 for many, many weeks.
"At the same time, I managed before in my career to beat the best players in the world, including some of the Big 3... You have to play your best. You have to play your absolute best.”
Despite struggling to adapt to the conditions of the centre-court, the 27-year-old gave full credit to Alcaraz for his splendid victory.
"He was putting pressure," Medvedev said. "I was doing some second serves 100 miles per hour. Pretty decent second serves. He was crushing them. I tried," he added.
"It's a very great match. I'm not going to lie, it's a very great match to watch, but I'm not going to watch it because I'm going to be too disappointed to not be there," he said on if he will watch the final or not. "I lost. I don't deserve to be there in the final because I didn't win today."
Alcaraz stunned Medvedev 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 reaching his first-ever Wimbledon final on Friday (July 14).
Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will face off in the Wimbledon 2023 final in London on Sunday.
Alcaraz will be looking for his first Wimbledon title win while Djokovic will do everything to defend his title.
An unmissable final between the best players in the world awaits on Sunday. It has to be seen if Alcaraz has what it takes to stop Djokovic from winning his fifth consecutive final.
The two powerhouses last faced one another in the semi-final of the French Open 2023 where the Spaniard was handed a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 defeat by the Serb.
In the women’s singles final, Marketa Vondrousova and Ons Jabeur are all set to take on each other on Saturday.
Both players will be looking to win their first-ever Wimbledon title. Jabeur lost to defending champion Elena Rybinka in the 2022 final.
Remaining matches schedule of Wimbledon 2023
Women’s singles final
July 15 — Marketa Vondrousova vs Ons Jabeur
Men’s singles final
July 16 — Novak Djokovic vs Carlos Alcaraz