Keep this up, and he may end up more popular Down Under than Vegemite.
“I want to change. I want to mature. I feel like I’ve done a big step these last months. Hopefully people can see it on the court because that’s the toughest challenge, tournaments.
Daniil Medvedev, in his pre-Australian Open press conference, on his own demons and his sometimes combative relationship with tennis fans“
Daniil Medvedev’s charm offensive at the Australian Open, where he has landed in the semifinals, has been a rousing success at no cost to his efficacy as a player. If anything, some off-season navel-gazing, driving his behavior at this tournament, has paid significant dividends.
Medvedev has navigated challenges that in years past might have led his head—along with his quads and his game—to explode.
“After every match I’m in the locker room, I’m destroyed,” he said after his quarterfinal win over Hubert Hurkacz—his second knock-down, drag-out, five-set struggle in four matches. “But then we (our team) do a good job. One day off is probably enough to feel good the next day,
“So far, so good in the beginning of the matches, and that’s what matters. Then try to win, and then if you’re dead after, it doesn’t matter because you have a day off.”
Many Aussies, among others, still feast on this kind of “stiff upper lip” stuff. Medvedev has been doling it out without a trace of hubris. Long prone to releasing his anxiety by sparring with fans in the crowd, Medvedev has wooed the patrons flocking to Melbourne Park. He’s become a model of equanimity. The former US Open champion is bright, as quick on the uptake as he is sprinting for a drop shot, but he no longer takes pleasure in rubbing our noses in it, reveling in his own bad self.
Medvedev keeps this up and he may end up more popular Down Under than Vegemite.
There were hints of this new Daniil Medvedev at the start of the tournament, when he told reporters that he took inventory of his character during the seasonal break:
“I had a lot of thoughts,” he said. “I felt like I need to change something. When I say ‘change something’, it came spontaneously to me that I want to take care more of important things, and take care much less about non-important things.” Those inessential things included his intimate relationships with his social media feeds and PlayStation. Instead, Medvedev decided to put more thought into his tennis—and his character. “I just want to kind of go with who I am, try to do less of stupid things that don’t help me as a person and tennis player.”
“I guess that’s why he is so good. He makes you feel like you have control of the match, [but] you don’t really.
Nuno Borges on Daniil Medvedev”
That’s noble enterprise for sure, but would it really work for Medvedev? The early signs were not encouraging. Medvedev fell behind Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori by two sets in the second round. Although he fought back to win, it was not over until 3:40 a.m.—the third latest-ending match in Grand Slam history. The popular assumption was that Medvedev was finished. Whether it was in the next round or later, the toll would be taken.
Not only did Medvedev bounce back, he had nary a negative word to say about the scheduling that had him playing his next two matches during the day session, his most recent one (with Hurkacz) in intense heat. He seemed unfazed, even by the prospect of having to play his upcoming semifinal during the day (his match against Alexander Zverev was eventually scheduled for Friday night).
“It’s kind of done in the schedule before the tournament, so—fine for me,” he said.
And, as the television audience saw, Medvedev was one of the tour’s star interviewees. He was relaxed, quirky, open and—as always—his thoughts were complex and highly nuanced. The night he gave Jim Courier a post-match “master class” (in the words of John McEnroe) in his return-position strategies was wonky. But the way he walked Courier through his thinking had the audience on Rod Laver was delightful.
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Now, Medvedev takes his impressive, asymmetrical and shape-shifting game into the semis.
As Nuno Borges, beaten by Medvedev in the fourth round, said: “He was really good at just making me feel that way, like a little desperate to win the point. He was always reading my game. But I guess that’s why he is so good. He makes you feel like you have control of the match, [but] you don’t really.”
Medvedev will not be able to topple Zverev, never mind Jannik Sinner or defending champion Novak Djokovic, simply on the strength of his new attitude, especially not with the kind of mileage and wear-and-tear he has accumulated through the tournament. But his resilience has been impressive, and he hasn’t spent a lot of emotional or mental capital on silly controversies or self-indulgent meltdowns.
“Honestly, I felt like I was always a happy person in life,” Medvedev said, after eliminating Felix Auger-Aliassime in the third round. “I think now [I am] even more. As I said, this last month and a half I have been feeling—how you call it—in peace with myself.
“I feel like I know where I’m going. I know what I have to do in life.”
Sure, give peace a chance. But prepare for war, because it will take an astonishing effort for Medvedev—or anyone else not named Djokovic—to win this Australian Open.
