Two years on — how Medvedev has used Australian Open defeat as impetus

When Daniil Medvedev lost the 2022 Australian Open final in five sets to Rafael Nadal, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5, he stuttered a little as he sought to return to form.

He took three weeks off before heading to Acapulco, where he got past Benoit Paire, Pablo Andujar and Yoshihita Nishioka in straight sets – and then lost once more to Nadal in the semi-final, 6-3, 6-3.

In Indian Wells, he reached the third round and lost to Gael Monfils 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

He had to wait until June before reaching another final, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, where he lost to Tim van Rijthoven, 6-4, 6-1. And it wasn’t until August that he got his first title of the year, in Los Cabos, beating Cameron Norrie 7-5, 6-0 in the final; indeed, he only won one other tournament in 2022, in Vienna.

His start to the 2024 season might have rung a few bells for him. A five-set loss in the Australian Open final? Check – this time to Jannik Sinner, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. A straight-set semi-final defeat in the next tournament? Check – in Dubai, to Ugo Humbert, 7-5, 6-3.

But his form in Indian Wells suggests that the two-years-older-and-wiser Medvedev could be in for a very successful year following a superb 2023 that included two Masters 1000 titles. He has taken out Roberto Carballes Baena then three seeds – 29th seed Sebastian Korda, 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov, and seventh seed Holger Rune.

And he has been very clear that his defeat in Melbourne isn’t something that troubles him this year; indeed, he said that almost immediately after the match.

“Straight after the final I said, look, I was, like, ‘Okay, maybe in two days I’m going to change my opinion,’ but my opinion didn’t change,” he said to journalists in Indian Wells. “I played a great match [against Sinner]. I started great. I was playing good tactically. In my opinion, I didn’t, let’s call it, crumble under pressure. Like, I don’t feel like in third set I started thinking too much about winning or shanking some shots. No, I felt like I continued a good way of playing. I continued what I needed to do, and I didn’t have to change it. He managed to change some things and he managed to play better. That’s why, yeah, he won. That’s why in my opinion it was special for him this final, also, to win it, to manage to win it.

“I was a bit scared in a way just how next tournaments are going to be, how motivated I’m going to be after this defeat. Then I got a bit injured, so in Dubai I was only thinking about my injury during the tournament.

“Here I feel great. Mentally I feel great, I’m ready to fight, I’m ready to win, if I we can call it this way. I think it’s definitely behind me. I’m going to have to come back to Melbourne and try to win it.”

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