“I feel like I left it far behind a long time ago, but who knows?” – Medvedev on Australian Open final loss

Sunday, January 30, 2022, Daniil Medvedev leads Rafael Nadal 6-2, 7-6, 3-2 0-40 on the Spaniard’s serve in the final of the Australian Open and is only a few games away from winning a second consecutive Grand Slam title. The Russian somehow misses the three break points and eventually loses the match in five sets after 5 hours and 24 minutes of play.

The Moscow native struggled to recover from that loss and had to wait until June to reach another final on the tour, in ‘S-Hertogenbosch, and until August to win his first ATP title of 2022, in Los Cabos. After that Australian Open final loss, Medvedev lost nine matches in a row against top 10 players.

In an interview with Eurosport, the world No 7 was asked about the impact that the Australian Open final loss had on the rest of his season. The Russian, who became a father for the first time in 2022, did not deny that it took him a while to digest the loss and was not completely certain that he had moved on.

Medvedev: “I feel like I’ve left this behind, but who knows?”

“I don’t know how much this defeat has affected me and if it still affects me, I have no idea. I feel like I left it far behind a long time ago, but who knows? Maybe it’s still there, deep inside me, deep inside. It’s the kind of game I don’t remake in my head because I feel like he just played too well.”

“He was really strong and getting stronger as the game went on. Yes, I had that situation at 0-40, but that’s not where I lost the final. So tennis-wise, I wasn’t disappointed. But it’s still a defeat in the final having led two sets to nil. So it wasn’t easy to digest,” the Russian said.

After a mixed 2022 season, Medvedev has already begun his preparation for the 2023 season by competing in this week’s Diriyah Tennis Cup, an exhibition tournament held in Saudi Arabia. The Russian wants to bounce back from the Australian Open and did not fail to make that known: “I know that I can play good tennis, that I can beat everyone on a good day. And I know I’m capable of winning a Grand Slam because I’ve done it before, and against Novak.”

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