John McEnroe advises Daniil Medvedev to adopt a completely new mindset as he believes the Russian has still not recovered from losing the Australian Open 2022 final. In the Australian Open 2022 final, Medvedev looked set to win in two sets to Rafael Nadal.
Medvedev led by two sets, had a 3-2 lead going into the third set and three straight break points against Nadal’s serve. Nadal then staged one of the most magnificent comebacks in Grand Slam finals history, beating Medvedev 2-6 6-7(5) 6-4 6-4 7-5.
Since then, Medvedev has won titles in Los Cabos and Vienna, but has not reached any Grand Slam or Masters final. Furthermore, he has plummeted from number 1 to number 8 in the world. «To me, he never fully got over his Australian Open final loss after going two sets to nil last year.
He will have to adopt a completely new frame of mind, also because after being world number 1 at the beginning of the year, he is back at the bottom and is now seventh. It’s quite a remarkable setback for someone who came so close to winning the Australian Open.
Sometimes such a defeat can pollute your mind for a long time. I lost the Roland-Garros final in 1984 against Ivan Lendl and I still haven’t recovered. I have the impression that Daniil found this difficult to swallow. When you have such an advantage and victory is close at hand, it’s hard to turn the page.
I was lucky to win Wimbledon by hand so it eased the pain, but you never forget it,» McEnroe said of Medvedev, according to Sportskeeda.
Patrick McEnroe comments on Nadal
Rafael Nadal has made it clear time and time again that a Grand Slam career is not his biggest obsession in tennis, unlike Novak Djokovic.
«I know Rafa likes to say he doesn’t care about Novak’s numbers or Roger’s numbers, but I’m not sure, as much as I love Rafael Nadal, that I totally believe him on that,» McEnroe said. «Because yes, he has always surprised me with his ability to play for the love of the game.
There is no question about it, and the competition. But let’s be honest, the guy loves to win,» he explained. «He (Rafael Nadal) is not going to go to the French Open or anywhere if he thinks he can’t win and he… knows if he goes to France or even Australia, the US Open, Wimbledon is obviously the most difficult, that there are very few guys who can beat Novak Djokovic if Novak Djokovic is at his best, but he’s one of the guys who can, certainly on clay and even on a medium-paced hard court, he can do it,» said the American.
