No one expects that Daniil Medvedev's run at the 2025 Australian Open would have ended as early as the second round. It was since 2018 that the former world number 1 had not been defeated in the second round of a Grand Slam tournament and his crisis is now deepening, which is why reflections will be needed from him and his team in the coming weeks.
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The Russian champion - who reached three finals at Melbourne Park - played a really fluctuating match against 19-year-old American Tien, surrendering in the fifth set after he had turned the inertia of the challenge thanks to the physical decline of his opponent.
The player from Moscow who will drop out of the Top 5 at the end of the Happy Slam also had the chance to serve to win the match at 6-5 in the fifth set, but he did not convert that opportunity and Tien's courage made the difference in the super-tiebreak.
A truly deep crisis
Medvedev is destined to lose many positions in the ATP ranking and the feeling is that it will take longer than expected to overcome this crisis. The 2021 US Open champion had said that he had worked well with his team during the off-season, but since his first-round match it was evident that his level was not enough to go far in this tournament.
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To be honest, it must be admitted that Daniil arrived in Australia later than the other players because he had witnessed the birth of his second child and this factor may have influenced his preparation on the eve of the Happy Slam.
According to former Russian champion Chesnokov, this bad defeat will force Medvedev to make very serious reflections on his future: "It must be admitted that Daniil's level was not up to par and he had already risked in the first round. This defeat is certainly a hard blow, but it can also have positive repercussions if he interprets it in the right way. Perhaps this premature elimination will give him more motivation for the next tournaments and he will return to see the real Medvedev. The truth is that he is playing too badly for a player of his caliber."
