Daniil Medvedev applauds WTA's stance on China, hopes things will end on a positive note

Following his straight-sets win over Mikael Ymer in the Davis Cup quarterfinals, Daniil Medvedev was asked about the WTA's bold stance on China. The organization decided to suspend its tournaments in the country in light of the unsatisfactory handling of Peng Shuai's allegations.

Medvedev started off by stressing that her safety is the number one concern.

"Yeah, first of all, I don't even want to say the most important, but what we all want is to see that she's safe, which I guess we still cannot know a hundred percent. That's what we are all hoping for. That's what we all want."

While the Russian applauded the WTA's stance on the matter, he added that there are many companies outside of tennis that are still doing business with China and that there are various opinions about how to handle the matter.

"What WTA did was definitely a strong decision. At the same time there are so many, let's say, companies in the world, let's talk, outside of WTA and ATP. Many of them are outside of China and are still working. I don't want to blame anybody. I feel like there can be different opinions on what to do. I'm sure talking about Andrea, ATP, every player, we all want to see her, to be safe, in China, outside of China, doesn't matter."

Medvedev stated that he doesn't want to blame anyone, including the ATP, for having a different stance on the matter.

"I don't want to blame anybody for not doing, let's say, the same thing. Maybe Andrea has a different opinion on what to do in this situation and how to react. What WTA did is a reaction, so ATP did a different reaction. I don't want to say which one is good or bad."

But the World No. 2 emphasized that the WTA's stance on the matter was a strong one considering the financial implications of such a move, and commended WTA Chairman Steve Simon for his decision.

"But definitely what WTA did is strong. Yeah, there were a lot of money involved there. It's really strong from Simon to make this decision."

Daniil Medvedev says nonody would feel comfortable playing in China if tournaments were held next week

Daniil Medvedev at the 2021 ATP Finals

Daniil Medvedev added that hopefully the situation involving Peng Shuai can be resolved soon.

"Right now what we have is a person missing, and that's not nice. Hopefully the issue can be solved because we can never know what's going to happen."

With regards to playing in China, Medvedev was hesitant to comment but added that "nobody would feel comfortable" playing in China right now.

"That's why I don't want to comment this early because, yeah, if the tournament would be next week, probably nobody would feel comfortable. Again, the tournament is next autumn. I want to come back, yeah, to what Ubaldo said: a lot of countries have different issues, yet we play in most of them tennis tournaments."

The World No. 2 concluded with the hope that the situation ends on a positive note.

"Let's see how the situation evolves and what is the result going to be, if we can say like this. I don't like this word, but hopefully it's going to be a positive one."