‘Dead’, but not broken
Daniil Medvedev expects to feel “dead for a week” after sweating through a record 24 hours and 17 minutes on court – only to lose his fifth grand slam final.
Medvedev might be blistered, but he declared he was not heartbroken with the matured star proud of his marathon fortnight that had him within six points of the Australian Open crown.
The 27-year-old – who has now lost three of the past four finals at Rod Laver Arena – revealed he could barely walk after cramping badly in the first round, long before his run of four five-set epics began.
Medvedev’s second-round win finished at 3.39am and he then ousted top-10 seeds Hubert Hurkacz (quarterfinal) and Alexander Zverev (semi-final) in back-to-back five-setters.
“The worst I felt was (the day after) the Hurkacz match and after the Zverev match,” Medvedev said.
“(On Saturday) when I was on practice I was like, ‘Damn, how am I going to play the final? How am I going to move?’ We worked really hard with my physio especially. He did a tremendous job to (ensure) every time I stepped on court I was ready again.”
Like in 2022 against Rafael Nadal, Medvedev led the final by two sets before succumbing to 22-year-old Jannik Sinner in five.
Fittingly, Sinner’s 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3 victory was this tournament’s 35th five-setter – equalling the open era record set in 1983 (US Open).
Medvedev is the first player in the open era to lose multiple slam finals from two sets up.
He is 50-2 on hard courts after claiming the first set, but those two losses have been those two finals at Melbourne Park in 2022 and 2024.
“For sure it’s better to come like Jannik, losing one set (on the way) to the final – but sometimes you don’t have another choice,” he said.
“After (beating Zverev) I went to bed at 5am again. I’ve never had this late, crazy sleep time.”