Australian Open: 'Not your last Grand Slam' - Daniil Medvedev congratulates Jannik Sinner on triumph

ByOli Gent

Published 28/01/2024 at 14:19 GMT

In his post-match speech, Daniil Medvedev predicted that Jannik Sinner’s Australian Open title would not be the Italian’s last after the world No. 4 got the better of him in the men's singles final at Melbourne Park, coming back from two sets down to win 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3. With the final going the distance, Medvedev exceeded a whole day of being on court throughout the tournament.

Daniil Medvedev predicted that Jannik Sinner’s Australian Open title on Sunday would not be the Italian’s last Grand Slam triumph.

Sinner claimed his maiden major title with a remarkable five-set comeback victory over the Russian third seed on Rod Laver Arena, winning 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3.

Medvedev exploded out of the blocks to steamroll through the opening two sets, and the world No. 3 looked on course to end his three years of disappointment in Melbourne by making it third time lucky.

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The Russian lost both the 2021 and 2022 finals to Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic respectively, but he still could not claim the title as Sinner staged a superb fight back.

Medvedev had also lost his last three encounters against the 22-year-old Italian, with Sinner beating him in the ATP World Tour semi-finals in Turin, after already getting the better of him in the finals of Vienna and Beijing earlier last year.

In his post-match speech, the runner-up stated that he believed that Sinner’s victory speech would not be the last he would give as a Grand Slam champion.

“I want to congratulate Jannik,” Medvedev said. "Today, you showed again why you deserve it. You fought till the end, managed to raise your level. You and your team are doing an amazing job.

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“You win a lot of tournaments, make a lot of finals, and that’s probably not your last Grand Slam.

“I hope I can try and get the next one because it’s been three finals in a row. I’ll try my best to do better next time, but congrats to you, you deserve it.”

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Medvedev was also keen to praise his coach, Gilles Cervara, who he has been with since the summer of 2017, and under the Frenchman, Medvedev has won 20 tour titles and peaked at world No.1.

“I want to thank my team, especially Gilles, who supports me every day and night. There were a lot of nights. I heard you from that corner.”

Medvedev, who has been on court for over 24 hours in total in this tournament, also sent out a message to his wife and daughter, who stayed at home while he competed in Melbourne. He also vowed to give his all next year and look to finally break his Australian Open duck.

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“I don’t know if they’ve turned off the TV, but Dasha, Alicia, I’m sorry I couldn’t make it today but I’ll try to make it work next time for you.

“And to everyone, because I get a lot of support from all over the world, so I want to thank everyone. It’s been an amazing two weeks.

"It always hurts to lose in the final, but probably being in the final is better than losing before. I always want to win; I guess I have to try harder next time. I’m proud of myself and I’m going to try even harder next time.”

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Stream the 2024 Australian Open live and on demand on discovery+.

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