"I would have liked to do better, I was in front" - Medvedev on 2022 Australian Open final
ATP
Daniil Medvedev wishes he played better in the 2022 Australian Open final. He remembers it even more than six months later.
Medvedev won his first major title at the 2021 US Open. Back then, he denied Novak Djokovic a Calendar Grand Slam. The Russian player won the final match 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
Only a few months after his triumph in New York, Medvedev had a chance to win his second consecutive Grand Slam title. At the 2022 Australian Open, he reached the final, taking on Rafael Nadal.
The final was going well for Medvedev. He won the first two sets 6-2, 7-6(5), and he led 4-3 in the third set. At that time, it seemed like he was cruising towards an easy win and second major title.
But sensationally, Nadal managed to turn the match around. The Spanish player won the last three sets, winning the match 2-6, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 to lift his 21st Grand Slam title.
Now, more than six months later, the Russian player reflected on the final. He wishes he had played a bit better in the final to win it.
"The Australian Open, overall, was good for me for example. I played very good tennis there, I won a crazy match against Felix [Auger-Aliassime, in the quarter-finals], I wouldn't say that I should have lost it, but I almost did, even saving a match point."
"Then there was this final against Rafa. I would have liked to do better, to win it, I was in front. Obviously, just after a loss like the one in the Australian Open final, for a few days, even a few weeks, it's hard for me. It's complicated."
At the same time, Medvedev accepts that he lost. He doesn't see it only as a loss. He knows he learned something that might help him later in his tennis career.
"But once again, when I look back, I tell myself that it's experience, it's life. All this made me progress as a human being. I understood some things. I understood that sometimes in life, things don't always go my way! So I try to see things a little differently now."
