(Melbourne) “The little boy has stopped dreaming”: Daniil Medvedev appeared very disillusioned on Sunday at a press conference after his defeat in the Australian Open final, assuring that his disappointment was not linked to the match, but to external circumstances, visibly linked to the attitude of the public.
Before answering the questions as usual, the Russian began with a long monologue on how, as a child, he dreamed of participating in these big tournaments like the Grand Slam tournaments, before concluding: “the child stopped dreaming “.
“I’m not going to explain why exactly, but today during the game there were moments where the kid stopped dreaming. From now on, I play for myself, my family, for the people who support me and, of course, for all Russians because I feel their support,” he said.
“I’ll put it like this: if there’s a hard-court tournament in Moscow before Roland-Garros or Wimbledon, I’ll go play it. Even if it makes me miss Wimbledon or Roland-Garros or another tournament. […] The child will play for him,” he added.
Pressed with questions, he implied that he had not accepted the attitude of the public towards him.
” Lack of respect ”
During the tournament and also during the final he complained a lot to the referee about the noise made by the spectators to annoy him, especially between his two service balls.
“I will just give a small example. At one point, before Rafa served, I heard someone shout, and it surprised me, “Come on Daniil! “And then, a thousand people started to go” chuuuuut “. Before my service to me, I did not hear that. It’s disappointing. It’s a lack of respect. I’m not sure that when I’m 30 I’ll still want to play tennis,” he added.
He clarified that the events of the final were only “the drop of water that broke the camel’s back” for him after events that have accumulated over time.
But he assured that his disappointment was not related to the defeat.
“If we talk about tennis, I am not disappointed. It was a huge game that was decided on details, little things that I could have done better. But that’s tennis, that’s life. Rafa played unreal. He raised his level of play: at two sets to zero, I said to myself “come on, go get him”. And in the fifth, I made him run. But he was amazing. I was even surprised to see him still so strong after four hours of play. But we know Rafa, ”he concluded.
