Daniil Medvedev says the times of him provoking the crowd are gone as nowadays he prefers to stay calm and react in a much better manner when he is dealing with boos.
Over the years, the Russian tennis star has had many viral moments with the crowds all over the world. In most cases, it started the same way - the spectators boo the 28-year-old for whatever reason and he gets into it with them.
After a 2019 US Open win against Feliciano Lopez - in a match where the crowd was heavily against Medvedev and booed him throughout - the former world No. 1 said afterward: "I want all of you to know, when you go to sleep at night, I won because of you. The energy youre giving me right now, guys, I think it will be enough for my five next matches. The more you do this, the more I will win, for you guys."
At this week's ATP Finals, the Russian tennis star drew boos again during his opening match against Taylor Fritz. It happened after he turned his racket the wrong way while waiting for the American's serve.
After losing to Fritz, Medvedev bounced back by beating Alex de Minaur. In his post-match presser, the 28-year-old was asked if he enjoyed getting the crowd angry at him.
"No, no," he bluntly replied.
Medvedev: I don't have the same adrenaline as when I was younger...
As mentioned above, the 2021 US Open champion has a rich history of getting into with spectators. But three months ahead of his 29th birthday, the Russian says things have changed and he doesn't like that stuff anymore.
"It was before. It was before. Now I don't like it anymore. I'm not as young, I don't have the same adrenaline. Even like against Fritz when I was deservedly booed, a little bit, not too much. I like when there is respect. I have to earn it from my side. But when there is respect both ways, it's the best way. Yeah, there were some matches in my career, especially for sure against Rafa in Australian Open. I feel like I didn't deserve what I felt there, but it's okay," Medvedev added.
"In general I prefer more to be like today where I'm calm, I'm composed, and the crowd feels it, the crowd likes it. Sometimes they support you. Sometimes they support the other. It's better. I'm someone that has let's call it one time per year I would have self-harm problems. It's definitely better not to do your self harm."
When was Medvedev the most disappointed with the crowd?
In 2022 January, the current world No. 4 appeared to be heading toward a routine win over Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final and sealing his second Grand Slam title. But then, the Spanish tennis icon stunningly came back to win 2-6 6-7 (5) 6-4 6-4 7-5.
Throughout the match, the crowd was heavily on Nadal's side to the point where the Russian felt that they were crossing the line and being disrespectful toward him. Later in his post-final presser, Medvedev delivered one of his most famous speeches - he said that "the kid inside me stopped dreaming" and that he realized some things about life.
"Im not going to explain why exactly, but today during the match I understood that Im going to play tennis -- actually its funny. I was talking about journalists, but I really like talking to you guys, I think you can see it. Thats not really the point. Im just talking about few moments where the kid stopped dreaming, and today was one of them. Im not going to really tell why. From now on Im playing for myself, for my family, to provide my family, for people that trust in me, of course for all the Russians because I feel a lot of support there," Medvedev said at the time.
"Im going to say it like this. If there is a tournament on hard courts in Moscow, before Roland Garros or Wimbledon, Im going to go there even if I miss the Wimbledon or Roland Garros or whatever. The kid stopped dreaming. The kid is going to play for himself. Thats it. Thats my story. Thanks for listening, guys. Now we can go to questions about tennis or anything."
Meanwhile, the former world No. 1 is set to take on Jannik Sinner in his last group stage match at the ATP Finals. Since the match will be taking place in Turin, there is no doubt that the spectators will be heavily on the Italian's side. It will be interesting to see if something happens and how Medvedev reacts.
