World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev has sought to make it up to Australia after lashing out in frustration during a fiery clash against Nick Kyrgios.
Daniil Medvedev is the highest ranked player in the men’s draw but he has traditionally found himself less than the most popular player at Melbourne Park.
The 25-year-old Russian who has stepped up as the best of the new brigade of stars is outspoken and not afraid to play the villain.
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Medvedev has previously worn his heart on his sleeve but the biggest moment that confirmed he would long be a tennis villain when he flipped off the crowd and fumed at a bellboy for bringing him a towel at the 2019 US Open, as well as having meltdowns over the years.
He’s also not afraid of speaking his mind, such as earlier in this years’ Australian Open, when he slammed crowd for screaming out “Siuuu” after almost every point in his match against Aussie Nick Kyrgios.
Medvedev, who has a history of riling up partisan crowds, made headlines when he said afterwards: “It’s not everybody doing it but people who are doing it probably have a low IQ.”
It saw Today host Karl Stefanovic slam the world No. 2 in a rant after the comments.
But a few days on from that match, Medvedev, who beat Dutch player Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4 6-4 6-2 in just under two hours to move into the fourth round, Medvedev appeared to want to make an amends with Australian tennis fans.
“I was hoping you were going to be a bit easier on me guys,” he said as some boos rang out during his post-match interview. “I’ll put it this way, it’s a little easier to play a guy from the Netherlands than a guy from Australia in Australia in Melbourne.
“I think every good relationship has it’s ups and down but it’s good. It’s entertaining, it’s real. It’s not like ‘hi guys, okay, whatever, I’ll see you next time’, there is some relationship going on.
“Hopefully I can come many more years here. As I say, I don’t think it’ll only be good ones but I hope it’ll be more good times than bad ones, otherwise it won’t work.”
After pauses for applause through the chat, interviewer Ian Cohen said: “We do love you here you know?”
Medvedev continued the love in later on saying that the Australian crowd was “like home”.
“It’s great. The other night I don’t feel like there was anything wrong,” he said.
“I just talked about exactly one thing, which is between first and second serve, because the rest is, of course, they are going to support Nick, I’m not stupid, you know.
“I like coming to Australia, I feel like people support me in general here. I want to even say feeling in a way is like home.
“So I do think it’s much more ups than downs with Australian crowd.”
Medvedev, the runner-up a year ago, is the favourite in the absence of deported defending champion Novak Djokovic and is looking for back-to-back Grand Slam crowns after beating the 20-time Grand Slam champion in the US Open final.
His next opponent is American Maxime Cressy, who will be making his first round of 16 appearance at a major following his 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-2 win over Australian Chris O’Connell.
— with AFP
Originally published as Aus Open villain Daniil Medvedev changes his tune on Aussie crowds
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