BOVET’s Ambassador Daniil Medvedev opens up about fine watches, tennis, and hard work.
BOVET owner Pascal Raffy first started working with Daniil Medvedev in 2019. Intrigued by his unusual style and a strategical savvy, Mr. Raffy arranged a meeting with him to explore how they could work together. Mr. Raffy was impressed with Daniil’s intelligence and maturity, and the partnership was born. Daniil is a whirlwind on the tennis court, chasing down everything and using his booming serve and powerful groundstrokes to control the match. Not just a physically gifted player, Daniil is considered a true game-changer of the sport. Now ranked number seven in the world, Daniil is approaching the 2025 season with both optimism and expectation. We recently spent time with Daniil in Monaco, where he lives. We had the opportunity to do a photo and video shoot with him, as well as sit down with him, one-on-one, to do an interview.
Question: How did you connect with Bovet?
Answer for Daniil Medvedev: My agent got in touch with BOVET and as soon as he told me about it, I thought it was a great project. BOVET has a history with tennis, they have the best timepieces in the world, so I wanted to represent the brand. To me, the idea was very interesting and we decided to work together.
Even before my first breakthrough, we connected with Mr. Raffy, and, straight away, I felt a kind of connection, a little bit like a family connection. So, yeah, we decided to go further together, and I did some amazing things, and Bovet was always by my side, and I am really happy to continue working together.
Q: What do you like about Bovet?
A: What I like the most about Bovet is, that I think, just like me in tennis, Bovet thinks a lot about details. And like in tennis, if you want to be the best, you need to think about the tiniest details, you need to search for perfection, and that’s what Bovet does, on a daily basis. And that’s, I think, what I like the most.
Q: How do you get along with Bovet’s owner Pascal Raffy?
A: With Mr. Raffy, we have a great relationship. The relationship is a very warm one. We met for the first time at the US Open in 2018, which was a crazy tournament. After the tournament, I had breakfast with him in my hotel and I felt this warm welcome in the company and he felt the same. After this, I felt that we could trust each other, and we have built a great relationship. We meet from time to time and we talk on the phone a lot. It has always been a lot of fun to be together. I feel like I can trust BOVET and they can trust me.
Q: How does being a Bovet ambassador make you feel?
A: Being a Bovet ambassador makes me feel very proud, to be honest. As I said, you know, I’m the only sportsman they have, and I just, I hope it can, can last a long time. Last year when I was at the castle, I even tried to put the screws in myself, and it was very, very tough because they’re super small, but it was a very fun experience. And, yeah, just to learn new things about timepieces, together with Bovet, is a big thing for me.
Q: You toured the manufacture and the castle recently. What impressed you the most?
A: I was impressed by their attention to details, and attention to perfection. 95% of the watches are made in-house, so it’s really, it’s a Swiss manufacture company, and I find this really unique. I was blown away by everything that BOVET does in-house. I learned so much about the way they create their timepieces, and there is so much more to learn. Every timepiece is unique in its own way. It’s made by someone, especially for you. And some of them are even bespoke, so it can be a one of one, timepiece, which is pretty astonishing.
I even tried my hand at assembling a movement, and I failed miserably. It is so much harder than you would even think.
We looked at a lot of timepieces, we talked about tennis and about life, and, we played some ping pong. I will be honest, I don’t remember who won, but Mr. Raffy was playing very well. I don’t think we were keeping score, but he was playing very well, and it was very intense. I had to go to the airport to catch my flight, but we didn’t want to stop.
Q: What values do you share with BOVET?
A: The main one is loyalty. That’s what I try to do with every company I work with. We can have good moments and bad ones, and we go through them together. It is important for me to know that even during the tough moments, we stay together. I know a lot of people in the company and it’s like a big family. We have each other’s back.
Q: What do you like about BOVET timepieces?
A: I like the style. The timepieces have unbelievable mechanisms and the design of each is so special. All of them are limited and exclusive. It’s super cool to know that you can have a timepiece that no one else has. I feel you can find anything you want in the BOVET collection.
Q: In 2025, there are higher expectations as a result of your successes in the past. Does this worry you or does it motivate you?
A: High expectations motivate me. I have to work hard in practice. I try to win every match I play. It’s match by match to win a tournament. In Grand Slams, it’s seven matches to win the tournament. It doesn’t matter where you are ranked. My expectation is higher, and the better I do, the better I want to do.
Q: People only see the results of all the training you do, when you play in a tournament. What is your daily life like?
A: Training is both good and bad. When I wake up, I have a choice to train or not to train, as it’s an individual sport. I can decide to do anything I want. If I want good results, I am the only one who will push myself to work harder every day.
Some days, my work will be less good and some days better. I try to keep my training private. I put in a lot of time, with fitness hours and with tennis hours. I have to be ready to play four or five hours against the best.
Q: What do you wish people knew about you?
A: People always ask me what is the thing they don’t know. If there is something I didn’t tell about myself, there is a reason. People should not just be defined by performance in sports. You can never know what a person is really like, based on their performance.
Q: What are your goals for 2025?
A: I don’t really set goals for tournaments, we have 20 or so tournaments, and some are more important than others. I want to win all of them. I don’t want to set a goal of winning the French Open, because if I don’t achieve it, it can have a negative mental influence. My first goal is to continue working hard, trying my best, so after the season I can say I had no regrets and I will try to do better next season. I will learn from my successes and my mistakes. I don’t want to live a life with regrets.
Q: Yogi Berra famously said “Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical.” How much of tennis is mental vs. physical?
A: Tennis is so tough, because there are so many small details. It’s so important, the physical part, I would say it’s 33% tennis, 33% physical and 33% mental, 1 percent for the rest.
Q: Tennis is one of the few sports that are not bound by time. Are you aware of the time while you are playing?
A: Sometimes, I am aware of the time. Sometimes I play a night match, so I am aware of how late it is, because I have to worry about when I can get to bed so I can be rested for the next match. During a night match, for example, I could be close to winning, then something happens and the match starts to get away from me and go longer, so I might look at the time to see when I might be able to get to sleep.
If I have to play seven hours to win a match, I will. I sometimes think about closing it out quicker, but each match is different.
I look at the time clock all the time. We only have 25 seconds to hit the next serve, so that’s important to keep track of.
Q: Does time speed up or slow down during the course of a match?
A: It depends match by match. If there are big serves, time goes so fast. Like everything in life, when you are losing, time goes faster because you feel like you have less time to catch up. If you are winning, you feel like time drags on forever. I practice so much, though, so I feel that I follow the score more than the time.
Q: What is your secret to success?
A: Hard work. Of course, everyone works hard, but if you don’t work hard, success is not possible. I am putting in a lot of time with my team to see how we can do better, what we can do differently. When you win, you try to continue. We talk a lot about strategy. The main part is hard work and always trying to learn.
Q: What is your greatest strength?
A: I think my defense on hard courts. I try to put the ball in a difficult position for my opponent. People know that if they want to win a point, they have to play perfectly. I can get pretty much any ball. I like my serve, as well.
Q: What is your biggest weakness?
A: Playing on other surfaces. I am working really hard and I have improved my results. I am working with my team to become more of an all-around player, changing my game a little bit. If I have a weakness, I work on it every day.
Q: You are often billed as the leader of the “New Wave” in tennis. Is that accurate? Is now your time?
A: In a physical sport like tennis, the young guys come up stronger and fitter and really push the old guard. We have to appreciate them, but we are trying our best.
Q: Has your appreciation for fine timepieces grown since you have been working with BOVET?
A: Before I was more interested in other luxury things, like cars, but since I started working with BOVET I have learned so much and I have become much more interested. When you are interested in something, you learn so much more. I have discovered so many cool details in the BOVET timepieces. I know so much more now and every time I am with people from the company, I ask questions about how things work, why this design, and more. Every watch they make has its own story.
Q: Would you like to design your own BOVET timepiece one day?
A: I would love to; it would be a dream come true. I would love to sit down with Mr. Raffy and work on a timepiece that was uniquely mine, and develop some limited editions.
Discover more exciting creations from BOVET at our boutiques, or online.
