Medvedev: "What happened in Australia was hard for me".

Daniil Medvedev is in Rotterdam to play in the ATP 500.

On the sidelines of the tournament, he took stock of his start to the year and his tennis.

He says: "What happened in Australia was tough for me.

I don't think I played a bad match, but it was a tough defeat, and since then I've been reminding myself how important it is to look forward with optimism and regain a little lost confidence.

I'm trying to change my tennis, and it's not easy because I'm working on different aspects of the game.

I think confidence is the key to making the work pay off.

Sometimes the improvements I make work, and sometimes they don't, but I feel I'm on the right track because I've had an excellent pre-season.

I'm staying calm for now. When you burst onto the scene as a youngster at the age of 20, there's a lot of enthusiasm.

You're not afraid of anything, you have uncontrollable ambition and an impressive desire to compete.

Things are changing a lot at my age now. I feel I still have that inner fire, but you have to work to keep it alive because as soon as it loses a little intensity, things get complicated."

Medvedev faces Stan Wawrinka in the first round of the Rotterdam tournament on Monday evening.