“I don’t understand how I lost”: De Minaur on playing Medvedev in his first final
In UTS’s “All on the table”, Alex de Minaur reflects on what it was like to play a young Daniil Medvedev in his first ever ATP final
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Ask any professional tennis player, and they’ll be able to describe vividly the first final they competed in. For some, it’s a joyous occasion; for others, full of nerves.
For Alex de Minaur, it’s a mixed bag. The Australian recently shared on UTS’s ‘All on the Table’ show, in a discussion with Casper Ruud and Dominic Thiem, just what his first final was like.
“I don’t understand how I lost that match,” De Minaur confessed to Ruud and Thiem. “I walked off court and thought, ‘I’ve got to look myself in the mirror, tell myself what am I doing with my life…’”
De Minaur on playing Medvedev in his first final
It was 2018 when De Minaur made his first final, with the Aussie going all the way to the final match at the ATP 250 event in Sydney.
Up against his on the other side of the net was a relatively unknown Russian with an unsightly technique.
“My first ATP final in Sydney, I played Daniil Medvedev,” said De Minaur.
“At this stage I’m thinking, one, I’ve just got the best chance ever to win a title,” continues De Minaur. “Two, we’re playing the first set and I’m playing really good tennis. Then it kind of all slips, and I end up losing 7-5 in the third.
“I walk out of that match thinking, you know, this was the best chance I’m ever going to get to win a title. I proceeded to play him like four times that year, he beat me every single time, and he finished like top 10.”
“I was like, ‘OK, he is very, very good. Better than what I thought.’”
Explaining more about what it was that caused De Minaur to struggle with in Medvedev’s game, the Aussie continued:
“He just baits you. Now, and still, he’s evolving as a player. Early stages he was constantly baiting you to come forward and be aggressive on him. He would do these no paced little backhands and short balls. But his movement is incredible.”
While De Minaur does have two wins against Medvedev now, the Russian still leads their head-to-head a healthy 6-2.
Medvedev’s technique as a young player
Ruud expanded on how Medvedev transformed himself into one of the world’s very best players.
“Daniil was kind of a, not late bloomer, but he was later than Sascha [Zverev],” Ruud said. “And then he just went mental and made it to top 10 like out of nowhere.”
With a bizarre, swirling technique on his forehand that often sees Medvedev finishing with his racquet wrapped around his head, the Russian’s style has attracted plenty of attention over the years.
“I remember seeing him for the first time in Washington,” recalled Ruud. “I was practising with another guy, a retired Russian player who knew Medvedev. He used to joke with him, and said to me, ‘Every time I look at him, I just want to puke, because of the technique. It makes me want to vomit. His backhand looks like a joke, the technique’.
“And this was maybe 2016, 2017, so he wasn’t already where he is now. So he stepped up big time.”
