Melbourne [Australia], January 29 : Despite falling to Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open final on Sunday in Melbourne, Daniil Medvedev is positive and determined to not let the defeat impact his season.
The 27-year-old lost the Australian Open final from two-sets-to-love up for the second time in three years. The third seed succumbed to Rafael Nadal in a five-set epic in the 2022 championship match.
Back in 2022, Medvedev was devastated by his defeat, describing himself as a 'kid that had stopped dreaming' after the match. Two years later, the World No.3 is significantly more upbeat about his defeat to Sinner and is determined not to let it affect his season.
"Different feeling, different circumstances, I would say. Now I'm dreaming more than ever, probably not today, but in general in life," said Medvedev as quoted by ATP.
"But I would say it's not anymore a kid who is dreaming. It's me myself right now, a 27-year-old who is dreaming, and who's doing everything possible for my future and for my present. I love it. That's why I made it to the final. I wanted to win. I was close. The scoreline is similar but I think the match would be a bit different," he added.
"I managed to raise this level and become a different person with a different mentality. I'm really going to try to make everything possible with myself, with my mind, for this loss to not affect my future tournaments and future seasons, because that's part of sports," the 27-year-old added.
Medvedev, the 2021 US Open winner, jumped off to a two-set lead on Rod Laver Arena, aiming for his second major victory. However, Sinner, on the other hand, rallied to become only the third Italian guy to win a major.
Despite the fact that the outcome was not in his favour, Medvedev was delighted with his performance despite his narrow setback.
"I got a little tired physically, but like every other match before. Just every other match before, my opponents didn't manage to take advantage of it or they also became tired. Jannik didn't really [tire]. I was trying to be proud of myself and I am. I was fighting, I was running. If tomorrow I don't feel my legs it doesn't matter, I'm going to try everything I can today until the last point, and I did it," Medvedev said.
Medvedev frequently plays in a deep-court position, absorbing his opponent's shots to great advantage. On Sunday, he had a strong aggressive effort, particularly in the opening two sets, when he scored 23 winners.
In his tenth ATP Head2Head encounter with Sinner, Medvedev admitted that his physical condition had a role in the tactical shift.
"What made me decide it was my physical condition, I knew that I was not going to be able to play long rallies because Jannik can, he could stay there. If I would be 100 per cent fresh physically, maybe with my coach we could decide before the match that I'm going to get into these rallies and let's see who is stronger physically," Medvedev said.
"But I knew that today I'm not in this shape so I needed to make the points as short as possible. I knew there was still going to be long points but I needed to make the points as short as possible. Take his time, and it was working well. To be honest, I think it was working well until the end," the World No.3 said.
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