By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday January 15, 2024
Daniil Medvedev is a two-time Australian Open finalist and generally thought off as a hard-court specialist that is a threat to win any major tournament played on his favorite surface.
But after struggling through his first-round match with French qualifier Terence Atmane (5-7 6-2 6-4 1-0 RET). Medvedev admitted that the Australian Open, for him, is a bit more challenging to play than the US Open.
“To be honest, it's probably true,” Medvedev said when asked about the topic by a reporter. “I feel, for whatever reason – I don't know the reason – a little worse in these conditions at the Australian Open than some other tournaments.”
Medvedev doesn’t want to give the impression that he’s handicapped here in Melbourne. He added: “At the same time I was two times in the final, and one I was really close to winning. So I really hope I can show my best tennis one time here, at least one, and win it.”
But the Russian says that coming out of the offseason with zero matches under his belt makes things difficult for him. He prefers the situation at the US Open, where he is given several months to build his form on the North American hard courts before making a last push at the US Open.
“What else I can say?” he said. “It's the first tournament of the year. Even if you have a warm-up tournament, it's still kind of the beginning of the year, so the sensations are different.
“Whereas I feel like at US Open, I feel like many times I peak because you're still not yet exhausted [from] the season, and it's like for me the best moment where you had a lot of matches coming in, Toronto, Cincinnati. Have one week of practice, and you go for it.
“In Australia it's different. You have a preseason, so you know you're going to be ready for the season, but for this exact tournament, not sure.”
Medvedev, to be fair, has put forth a pretty solid body of work in Australia. He improved to 22-7 lifetime at the tournament with Monday’s win, and has made the round of 16 in four of the last five season.
The 2021 US Open champion is 29-7 lifetime in Flushing Meadows, with a title and two trips to the final.
Last year in Australia, however, he was shellacked by American Sebastian Korda in the third round.
The No.3 seed will face Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori in second-round action.