It is difficult not to drift back to Daniil Medvedev’s post-Australian Open final defeat two years ago – and everything that was said afterwards – when assessing his path to the 2024 decider.
The Russian street fighter on Friday night became the first player in almost 30 years, since the legendary Pete Sampras in 1995, to mount multiple comebacks from two-set deficits en route to the Melbourne Park final.
Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner will battle it out for the Australian Open crown.Credit: Mark Buggy, Eddie Jim, AP
Cool-as-ice Italian Jannik Sinner, fresh from his highly impressive defeat of 10-time champion Novak Djokovic, awaits the at-times combustible Medvedev on Sunday night.
Medvedev’s tournament could easily have ended in the second round at Emil Ruusuvuori’s hands, but instead he celebrated a victory at 3.39am. He looked off the pace for the first two sets against German arch-rival Alex Zverev in the semi-finals, too, but found a way again in the early hours.
They were two of Medvedev’s three five-set triumphs this fortnight, the other over star Pole Hubert Hurkacz in the quarter-finals as part of his more than 20-hour journey to the tournament’s last day.
“Physically and mentally it’s tough, five sets – and many times in the fifth, I was not strong enough,” Medvedev said after his 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 victory over Zverev.
“One month ago, I wanted to change a little bit even more, to try to be even stronger mentally and think less about one guy in the crowd who screams something at me, or [if] I think the referee is sometimes wrong. I try to focus more. I’m still far from being perfect, but I’m trying.”
Now the context: Medvedev lost his first six five-set matches across four years before finally breaking through, at Melbourne Park, of course, against Filip Krajinovic in 2021.
In a new Australian Open era, will the street fighter or the ice man prevail?
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27.01.2024
It is difficult not to drift back to Daniil Medvedev’s post-Australian Open final defeat two years ago – and everything that was said afterwards – when assessing his path to the 2024 decider.
The Russian street fighter on Friday night became the first player in almost 30 years, since the legendary Pete Sampras in 1995, to mount multiple comebacks from two-set deficits en route to the Melbourne Park final.
Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner will battle it out for the........
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