With mother tongue Russian, solid English and fluent French at his command, Indian Wells fifth seed Daniil Medvedev is never at a loss for words – on court or off.
The former No. 1 who has reached the fourth round in the Californian desert, can also spot the difference between learning English and French, and compares their strikingly different learning styles.
“English I learned when I was young. It’s the most important language in the world, because almost all the countries speak English. All the people, all the young people, because that’s the way to communicate with each other in the modern era,” he said.
“I’m really happy that I can express myself well; I feel like I get lost rarely.”
But the Monte Carlo-based family man said that French studies are another story.
“I’m really happy I managed to pick it up, because it’s not easy. I didn’t know any words in French until I was 17 years old.
“”I knew I would be moving to France (tennis training) so I started to learn it a little bit. I came with a really low base but maybe I could understand
the topic.
“It’s a very tricky language, because, I mean, it’s very tough.
“In Russia, we literally, like probably like in English, we literally pronounce everything that is written on the paper.
“In French, half of the letters are not pronounced. I had to get used to it.”
