Tennis
Medvedev’s worst Grand Slam match! A Russian has never been humiliated like this before
Daniil Medvedev lost to the American in the fourth round at the Australian Open.
Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev suffered the worst defeat of his career! He has never lost a dry set at a Grand Slam tournament. However, Medvedev was powerless against the American. All he could do was shrug his shoulders.
Thirst for revenge
Daniil Medvedev’s path to the Australian Open began with a confident victory over the representative of the Netherlands, Jesper de Jong – 7:5, 6:2, 7:6. In the second round, he beat the Frenchman Quentin Alice in four sets – 6:7, 6:3, 6:4, 6:2. However, the tournament almost ended for the Russian tennis player. In the next match, Hungarian Fabian Marozan took two sets in a row and made a serious bid for victory – 7:6 (7:5), 6:4. But Medvedev pulled himself together in time and turned the tide of the meeting, winning three games in a row – 7:5, 6:0, 6:3.
— It was a difficult match… But I managed to survive and I’m glad about it. He played great, I thought: “If I lose, so be it, but I’ll just try to force the fight.”
I wasn’t calm after the first set, I was angry with myself for not playing better. This affected my game a little in the second set, but then I decided that I needed to let it go. Just thinking about what I need to do.
In the fifth set you try to stay calm, but it’s a little more difficult. It was tense, but I managed to perform several good shots,” the Australian Open press service quotes Medvedev as saying.
Thanks to a strong-willed victory, the Russian made it to the fourth round, where he had to meet with the American Lerner Tien. Medvedev has already met Thien three times and achieved only one victory. At the same time, last year at the Australian Open, Lerner completed the Grand Slam circuit for the first time in his career and beat Daniil in the next match. In that game, our tennis player lashed out at the fans and threw his racket out of anger.
“We met three times, and each time there was a real battle. We both win a lot of points. None of us give away a lot of free points, and naturally this leads to very long rallies and long games. None of us makes it easier for our opponents.
That’s why we don’t make things easier for each other. We both have to work very hard to win points and games, and the matches drag on for quite a long time,” Thien noted before meeting Medvedev at the 2026 Australian Open.
After the painful defeat, it took the Russian a long time to come to his senses. In general, the whole season turned out to be crumpled for Medvedev, so he had enough motivation to take revenge on the American.
Worst match
Thien started the match strong, taking two games in a row. But Daniil quickly got involved in the game and then took back his serve. And then the match had to be stopped: the American’s nose began to bleed and a doctor’s help was required. True, Lerner was quickly put on his feet, and he returned to the court. As a result, the Russian lost in the first set in 41 minutes – 4:6.
In the second game, Tien set his sights on defeat, taking five games in a row! Medvedev didn’t freak out, he just threw his arms out to the sides and showed with all his appearance that he didn’t understand how to play against the American. Daniil continued to smile nervously even after the American drew him a “steering wheel” in the second game. For the first time in his career in a Grand Slam match, Medvedev lost a set with a score of 0:6.
But it seemed that the Russian would repeat the scenario of the last match, where he made an outstanding comeback. Moreover, at some point Lerner began to clearly slow down and make mistakes. The Russian even won the seventh game on his own serve – 3:4. But, unfortunately, it was not possible to achieve a strong-willed victory again or at least stretch the match into four sets: Thien achieved a convincing victory – 6:4, 6:0, 6:3.
Daniil had only a short period in the third game when he really forced the fight. The rest of the time his opponent dominated, who was even able to take 11 games in a row.
Source: Sportbox
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