"That was gutsy to do" - McEnroe on Medvedev making himself the bad guy at US Open

| by Drew Tate

Daniil Medvedev won his maiden US Open trophy in 2021 by beating Novak Djokovic in the final however he had a brilliant moment in 2019 there as well.

After a match at the 2019 US Open where Medvedev played the final against Nadal, the Russian opted to play the villain role for the very engaged New York crowd. Crowds in the Big Apple are quite famous for the way they interact with athletes, particularly ones they dislike and Medvedev was at the front of it in 2019. Speaking to GQ John McEnroe remembered the moment calling it pretty gutsy.

That was a gutsy thing to do because you don't want everyone in the New York audience booing against you. But he did do a fantastic job, and then he won the crowd over in the finals, through his effort, which is fantastic. And then they loved him, pretty much, last year. Now it’s bothering him, which is more normal. It's catching up to him. There’s only so long you can go that way.

McEnroe on Medvedev the villain
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McEnroe understands the role of villain well as he's been vilified quite often in the past due to his nature of outbursts and other things. He recalled an instance when he did what Medvedev did during a match against Lendl at the French Open.

I had the ability to have a crowd. I had the greatest round of applause in the match I lost at the French against Lendl. 90 per cent of the people were clapping for me, then somehow by the end, I had got them all clapping against me. That takes talent, to have a crowd that loves you hate you by the end!

McEnroe on turning the crowd against him
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Medvedev has not played strong tennis since losing in the Australian Open final. It's a match he should have won but eventually, he lost the match and the crowd. McEnroe thinks it still bugs him.

Medvedev, to me, hasn't recovered from that [Australian Open final] loss emotionally. Not just because he lost, but because of the crowd.

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