By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday, November 18, 2022
After another difficult loss at the Nitto ATP Finals on Friday (his third in succession, all of them in third-set tiebreaks!), a second one in which he failed to serve out a victory while leading 5- 4 in the final set, Daniil Medvedev said there were no positives to take from his 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(2) loss to Novak Djokovic in Turin.
He was asked that very question by a reporter after his final match of the 2022 season.
“No. That's my answer, sorry,” he said in a positively negative tone (though with a smile). “I mean, I guess it was a good fight, but no positives, no.”
So how does Medvedev explain his inability to close out two victories which were well within his grasp in Turin? “Super easy: I sucked,” he said.
“That's what happened. It's a disaster. What I'm really happy about is that this match didn't count in going out of the group, otherwise I would have had two matches where I lost serving for the match. At least this one didn't count.
“But, yeah, that's awful. I'm going to try to be better next time. I have no other choice.”
Medvedev finishes his season at 45-19 with two titles and a trip to the Australian Open final, where he squandered a two sets to love lead against Rafael Nadal. He says there wasn’t much to feel great about after that difficult defeat.
“In general after Australian Open I cannot find a huge result from myself, even if I made some finals, won one tournament,” he said. “I didn't play bad. I mean, I'm in Torino in the top eight. But I would expect more from myself.”
Medvedev doesn’t lack confidence in his level or ability to compete with elite players. He’s just a bit depleted after losing his last eight matches against the ATP’s Top-10, and that’s understandable.
“Vienna and Astana I played great,” he said. “I mean, today I played great. Let's be honest. I'm confident I'm going to be able to do something big in the future. Just need to continue working. Going to be sad for one, two days, then enjoy my days off, then get ready for the next season.”
Djokovic “in a league of his own” as is the Big Three
Asked if his rivalry with Djokovic (Djokovic leads 8-4 overall) was in a league of its own, Medvedev demurred. He says he shouldn’t be considered in the same breath as the world-beating 35-year-old, or any of the Big Three for that matter.
“Novak is a league of his own, that's for sure, with Rafa and Roger,” he said. “Then it's the rest. Maybe one moment somebody's going to try to catch them number of slams or whatever, then we going to talk about it differently.
“I definitely don't put myself in there. We had some tough battles. He's leading in head-to-head, even if I won some important matches. Yeah, that's all I can say. I definitely, definitely am not close to Novak. Maybe when we play, yes, but in general you cannot compare myself to him or any one of the big three.”