Daniil Medvedev congratulates Rafael Nadal after the Australian Open men's singles final. Photo / AP
Daniil Medvedev congratulates Rafael Nadal after the Australian Open men's singles final. Photo / AP
Tennis fans have long been crying out for the next generation to challenge the Big Three and their dominance of the sport but Daniil Medvedev thinks it's all a big, fat lie.
Medvedev lost the Australian Open final to Rafael Nadal on Sunday in a five-set marathon as the Spaniard climbed to the top of the men's grand slam race with his 21st major trophy, ahead of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, who are both on 20.
Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray (three grand slams each) have both played the role of disrupter in recent times but of the past 64 majors, only 10 have been won by players other than Djokovic, Nadal and Federer.
Speaking after his second straight defeat in an Australian Open decider, Medvedev gave a sad monologue about how the crowd's treatment of him at Melbourne Park has crushed part of his spirit and made him question whether it was time to "stop dreaming".
"I'm just talking about few moments where the kid stopped dreaming, and today was one of them," Medvedev said, adding that from now on he would only play for himself and his family.
"The kid stopped dreaming. The kid is going to play for himself. That's it. That's my story."
Upset at the lack of crowd support in Sunday's decider, where the majority of fans at Rod Laver Arena were barracking for Nadal, Medvedev used the reception as evidence that tennis fans don't actually want a new face to upset the status quo.
Daniil Medvedev congratulates Rafael Nadal after the Australian Open men's singles final. Photo / AP
The Russian beat Djokovic to win last year's US Open and the world No. 2 is the most likely of "Generation Next" to be a major threat at grand slams. But he believes it's a myth anyone wants Djokovic, or the hugely popular Nadal and Federer, to stop winning.
"When I also started to get just a little bit higher, like top 20, top 30, started to play Roger, Novak, Rafa. We made some tough matches. I haven't beat them yet," Medvedev said in the early hours of Monday morning.
"There was a lot of talk. I don't think there is that much right now, but I remember there were a lot of talks, young generation should do better, or there were talks like people saying we really want young generation to go for it, to be better, to be stronger.
"I was like pumped up. Yeah, let's try to give them hard time and everything.
"Well, I guess these people were lying because, yeah, every time I stepped on the court in these big matches, I really didn't see much people who wanted me to win."
Medvedev added the build-up of resentment he feels towards him has been "cumulative" but Sunday's final was "the top of the mountain". He also suggested his nationality may have something to do with it.
"I think nationality plays a key. It's just that Russian tennis was a little bit down for some time. I think I'm trying really, I feel there is a lot more buzz about tennis in Russia right now with me, Andrey, Karen, Aslan doing big things. That's great. Hopefully we'll try to get more people to go for us," Medvedev said.
"But yeah, I can definitely see when you playing somebody from the other country, they would go for them and not for Russian or something like this."
Daniil Medvedev gestures during a press conference following his loss to Rafael Nadal. Photo / AP
Medvedev accused the crowd during his last match in Melbourne of being "disrespectful" and making noises before his serves. He said it was "disappointing" then made the sad revelation that by the time he's 30 (he's 25 now), he's not sure he'll want to continue playing if he keeps getting treated in similar fashion.
When it comes to popularity among fans, Nadal sits alongside Federer in another stratosphere to every other male player on tour, so it was normal to expect the 35-year-old would enjoy the majority of the support on Sunday night.
But Medvedev has to accept some of the blame for how spectators have reacted to him at the year's first grand slam too. He slammed the crowd for having a "low IQ" after some raucous behaviour during his second-round win over Nick Kyrgios and then trolled everyone again with a reference to Djokovic — whose already questionable popularity Down Under plummeted even further after he was deported over vaccine and visa issues — later in the tournament during a post-match interview.
Medvedev also missed a golden chance to win over the locals when he butchered a response to a question from US legend Jim Courier about Ash Barty ahead of her final against Danielle Collins.
