Daniil Medvedev makes second BNP Paribas Open semifinal—and another meme (or two)

INDIAN WELLS, Calif.—Daniil Medvedev played a high-quality match to defeat Holger Rune at the BNP Paribas Open, but even he knows the lasting image from his 7-5, 6-4 win over the No. 7 seed won’t be any of his 18 winners from the two-hour contest.

No, you’ll only remember this:

“The thing is that we're living in such a world now with social media, this is probably this is going to be there for like, I don't know, 10 years,” Medvedev said of the “I see you” gesture he gave Rune, which occurred when he thought Rune had failed to apologize for striking the ball towards his body at net.

“The good points that we had, and they were amazing, it’s gonna be in one day no one remembers.”

All in a day’s work for the one-man meme machine, who was nonetheless in good spirits after reaching the semifinals of Indian Wells—his least favorite hard-court Masters 1000—for a second straight season.

“I think it's a bit faster this year,” said Medvedev who, as a self-proclaimed “hard-court specialist,” was loath to consider Indian Wells a hard-court tournament in 2023. “I would guess that Stadium 2 is much slower. I played just one match there, and it was unbelievable slow, like, even now maybe slower than last year. Stadium feels pretty fast, to be honest. That's good for me!”

Even better for the former No. 1 that he wasn’t on court during the equally meme-able Bee Invasion that took place on Stadium 1 Court earlier in the afternoon, interrupting the quarterfinal between 2023 champ Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev.

If Medvedev is no fan of (perceived) non-apologies, he likes pests even less.

Last year was crazy. This year I feel is a little bit more calm and straightforward, so maybe I can do better than last year. Let's see. Daniil Medvedev

“I'm a bit scared of insects, to be honest. Whenever there is a bee, everyone is, like, ‘Don't move.’ Normally they don't bite when you don't...I usually sit like this for five seconds and then I'm like, ‘Wah, just get away.’ I would be probably sprinting out of the court.”

A far cry from last year’s love-hate dynamic, Medvedev is thoroughly enjoying his time in the desert, spending his post-match press conference praising his daughter Alisa, predicting rivals Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner will be neck-and-neck in total Grand Slams won and even extending the late-evening Q&A so he could name the players he thinks has the best serve (Ivo Karlovic), forehand (Roger Federer), backhand (Alcaraz) and mental toughness (Rafael Nadal).

“Last year was crazy. This year I feel is a little bit more calm and straightforward, so maybe I can do better than last year. Let's see.”

Even a calmer Medvedev still has big goals for 2024, having started the season with a sixth Grand Slam final at the Australian Open. Indian Wells is his first Masters 1000 semifinal since Rome last spring, a drought he was more than happy to end with the loss of just one set through four wins in Tennis Paradise.

“I want to maybe play less tournaments but try to be better in those tournaments,” he said, hoping to keep up his consistency and maybe even defend a title for the first time in his career. “The biggest goals are Slams, Olympic Games, and I'm going to try there, I'm going to play to die.”

And while he lives, he’ll likely make a few more memes along the way.