Daniil Medvedev Back In Australia For First Time Since Australian Open Collapse

Daniil Medvedev still has bad memories of his last appearance in Australia when he let slip a 2-0 set lead in the final to Rafael Nadal 11 months ago.

The choke hasn’t left his mind.

“I felt absolutely terrible. Again, the thing about life and tennis is that you have to get over it, try to learn from it because you cannot change the past.

I had some tough moments in my career,” he said. “I always managed to find a way back, so I’m sure I’m going to find the way back to even higher level than I was playing maybe last year.

“The match was not easy to get over for some time, but at least right now, yeah, I’m looking forward to Australian Open again, and I want to do better than last year. That’s the goal.”

Medvedev had just won his first Slam at the US Open and well on his way to No. 2 in Melbourne, the loss derailed his 2022 season. The Russian finished No. 7 with just two smaller titles in Los Cabos and Vienna. And now with some many new player emerging, Medvedev is now longer a favorite to win Slams.

“I think it’s always difficult, really, because it’s always some new players that come in. Some old ones are maybe playing a little bit worse, but then they’re coming back, like let’s say Sascha was not playing for a lot of months, but he can come back any moment and he’s going to be a contender,” he said.

“Same, of course, Carlos is No. 1 in the world right now, playing amazing. So many good players. Sometimes there are sensations in the first round, so I want to say you have to focus as much as you can on yourself, try to show your best tennis, and that’s when you can win Grand Slams and big tournaments.”

Medvedev is playing Adelaide because Russian (and Belarus) is banned from the United Cup.

“I would definitely prefer to play the United Cup,” said Medvedev. “We would definitely be good favorites. But it is what it is, and I’m happy to be here in Adelaide playing in this tournament.

“I completely understand why we are not playing Davis Cup or United Cup and team competitions where we would represent our country.

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