Charged Medvedev: “The child stopped dreaming, the child will play for himself”

In an intense emotional charge, Daniel Medvedev spoke at the press conference after his defeat by Rafa Nadal in the final of the Australian Open.

The Russian narrated a long attitude all his way up to today’s game, concluding that he is not sure if he will be able to continue playing in the same way.

In addition, he attacked the Melbourne public, which disapproved of him.

In detail, what he said:

«The story of a young child who dreamed of doing great things in tennis. I was six years old when I caught the racket. Time flows fast. When I was 12 I played in tournaments in Russia and, of course, I watched Grand Slams on TV, big stars playing, fans supporting. Do you dream of being there?.

I started playing in some tournaments in Europe. I remember playing in the Youth Olympic Games. I reached the final. It was nice. We had a central stadium, it was in Turkey. I would say there were thousands of followers, two thousand. It was fantastic to be there. It was from the moment you dream, the highest level.

The next step for any junior is to play in the junior Grand Slam. There you can see the advantages. At the US Open you can eat at the restaurant with them. Little things like that. There are people who come to support you even if they do not know who you are. Wonderful moments.

That’s the moment you say “wow, I want to be in the grand slam, to play in front of the best people in the world”.

I remember when I went to the US Open I saw John Isner pass. I was thinking “wow, it’s huge, it looks bigger than it is on TV”. Good times.

Then a lot of tournaments, trying to level up. You start playing in bigger tournaments. There are some moments in my career that I thought this child was questioning whether he should continue to dream these big things or not.

I remember one α I lost very hard matches twice at Roland Garros. For my age I was around number 5, if I remember correctly, which was not bad. Especially when it comes to a huge generation, as you can see now, with several top-10 players. I lost to Benjamin Bonji, who is in the top-100 now. There was a Russian journalist in the room. I was thinking “Really?”. It’s a Grand Slam. I was close to entering the top50, very young. I thought it was a surprise. I think the journalist was Russian and we talked for five minutes. I like talking to journalists.

I remember a hard defeat by Pierre Ig Erber. Terrible match. He played fantastic. I like these games, that’s why I like tennis. I was close to the Top10. Again for my age I was in the top3, with Zverev and Tim, but he is a little older.

I came to the interview. I was a little upset with the fans and everything. It’s funny because I wanted to be brief and answer in two words. There was a journalist, I think Italian. He asked me something and I answered in two words. No other questions. There were some Russians who asked me some questions. Again, a child would question whether he should continue to dream.

I do not want to explain why, but today during the match I realized that I will play tennis – it’s funny. I was talking about the journalist, but I really like talking to you, I think you can see it. This is not the problem. I’m talking about the moments when the child stopped dreaming and today was one of them. I will not tell you why.

From now on I will play for myself, my family, to contribute to my family. For the people who believe in me and of course for all Russians, because I feel great support.

I will say this: “If there is a hard surface tournament in Moscow before Roland Garros or Wimbledon, I will go there, even if I lose Wimbledon or Roland Garros. The child stopped dreaming. The child will play for himself. This is. This is my story. Thank you for listening to me.

Asked if he was bothered by the Melbourne audience, he replied: “I will not answer, sorry. I will give you a small example. Before Rafa’s serve, even in the fifth set, if a voice was heard – which would surprise me – shouting “Let’s go Daniel”. Immediately many would hear him say “ssssss, ssssss, ssss”. This sound. I did not hear anything before my service. It’s frustrating. It is disrespectful. I do not know if after 30 years I would like to play tennis. It depends on the people around me, what they will tell me, how we will proceed. Again, the child he dreamed of does not do it after today. It will be harder for me to continue playing tennis when that’s the case».

On whether he felt the same way before: “” There were times in my career when I felt I could integrate. I forgot to add to the story about the child. When I started to climb, in the top20, top30, I started playing with Roger, Novak, Rafa. We played some hard games, I have not beaten them yet. There have been discussions, that the next generation must be better. There were people who said we wanted the next generation to be stronger. They animated me. I thought we should try hard. Now I think these people they were lying, because every time I enter the field in these big games, I do not see many who want me to win. “It’s something that has accumulated, but today was the tip of the iceberg.”