Daniil Medvedev Slams 'Disrespectful' Australian Open Crowd
The world number three said it was 'disappointing' and doesn't know if he wants to play tennis anymore.
The runner-up for the 2022 Australian Open, Daniil Medvedev, has slammed the atmosphere at Melbourne Park.
The Russian tennis player was locked into a stunning five-set match against Rafael Nadal for the final of the men's singles last night (January 29).
Despite having the upper hand early on, Daniil struggled in the final stages allowed the Spaniard to claw back from two sets down to win his 21st Grand Slam title.
It would have been a tough result for the world number three and Medvedev said the atmosphere at Melbourne Park seemed to be against him.
"I'm going to give one small example. Before the Rafa serve in the fifth set, there might be one person yell out "C'mon Daniil" and I would be surprised at that, but everyone else was "tsz, tsz, tsz" [silent]," he said in his post-match press conference.
"It was disappointing. It's disrespectful. I'm not sure after 30 years I'm going to want to play tennis anymore."
He said the decision on his future will be made soon, but at the moment he's still coming to terms with his Australian Open loss.
"It depends on the people around me and what they tell me, how we will go through this journey together, but the kid who was dreaming is not anymore in me after today," he said.
"So, it will be tougher to continue tennis when it's like this."
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Medvedev copped criticism from the crowd throughout the two week tournament.
When asked why he felt he was being specifically targeted by the crowd, he said it could be because he's Russian.
"I think nationality plays a role. It's just that Russian tennis was a little bit down for some time. I think I'm trying really - I feel there is a lot more buzz about tennis in Russia right now," Medvedev said.
"That's great. Hopefully, we'll try to get more people to go for us, but I can definitely see when you're playing somebody from the other country, they would go for them and not for a Russian."
He effectively said that he's going to stop playing Grand Slams if there's a more local competition in Russia around the same time.
"I'm going to say it like this. If there is a tournament on hard courts in Moscow, before Roland Garros or Wimbledon, I'm going to go there even if I miss the Wimbledon or Roland Garros or whatever," he said.
"The kid stopped dreaming. The kid is going to play for himself. That's it. That's my story."
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