“This time he will be watching on TV” Daniil Medvedev teases Australian crowd with yet another CHEEKY Novak Djokovic reference!
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Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev
World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev advances into the finals of the 2022 Australian Open after a fiery battle with World No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-finals in front of a packed Rod Laver Arena. In the battle that lasted for 2.5 hours, Medvedev won the match 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to move into the finals in Melbourne Park for the second consecutive year.
In a match that saw Medvedev lose his cool after Stef’s father kept on ‘talking’ to him from the player’s box that resulted in Medvedev messing the second set and going on a big rant against the chair umpire, it was an excellent performance from a fired-up Medvedev who made sure not to lose any more points and accelerated to close the match in the 4th set after having played 5 in the quarter-finals.
Medvedev’s interviews are always a thing of beauty and despite the crowd not liking him for mentioning Novak Djokovic after his quarter-final win, the Russian again mentioned the Serbian’s name during his on-court interview. As Medvedev is now taking on Rafael Nadal in the finals on Sunday, he pointed out that he will be again up against a player going for his 21st major.
“What is funny is that I’m going to play again someone who’s going for the 21st Grand Slam. I guess last time Rafa was watching near the TV and I think Novak will be watching this one also in 2 days’ time,” said a chuckling Medvedev as the crowd let out boos for the Russian and despite Jim Courier’s best attempts to mend things, Medvedev spoke his mind out.
Daniil Medvedev can become the new World No. 1
Medvedev will have a lot at stake when he takes the court against Nadal in what will be their 5th career meeting and a repeat of the 2019 US Open finals that lasted for nearly 5 hours with Nadal eventually winning it in the 5th set. This will be their second Grand Slam meeting and Nadal currently leads the head-to-head 3-1.
A win in Sunday’s finals will help Medvedev pip Djokovic to become the new World No. 1 and the Russian will become the first player apart from Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Djokovic and Nadal to reach the top of the ATP rankings. But Nadal will surely make things difficult as he also has history on the line with his 21st Grand Slam title and second Career Slam feat.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)