Daniil Medvedev breaks silence after losing 11 | Sports News

Daniil Medvedev has mirrored on his crushing Australian Open exit after dropping 11 straight video games during his fourth-round loss to Learner Tien.

The American had additionally defeated Medvedev at this venue final 12 months when he was a teenage qualifier ranked past the highest 100. That second-round conflict was a marathon five-set battle that concluded at 3am native time. However, this 12 months’s rematch proved far more lopsided as Tien, now returning because the No. 25 seed, secured a commanding 6-4, 6-0, 6-3 win.

The 20-year-old wrapped up the opening set, blanked Medvedev within the second, after which surged to a 4-0 lead within the third earlier than the three-time Australian Open finalist mounted a comeback. Throughout Tien’s dominant stretch, Medvedev appeared rattled as he gestured towards his box, seemingly helpless to change the momentum.

The former world No. 1 has now revealed how he managed to halt Tien’s streak of 11 consecutive video games and piece collectively three of his own.

“I was just trying to win one more. The one I won was not easy. I don’t know if he had a breakpoint, but for sure, it was a couple of deuce points,” Medvedev mentioned.

“I mean, I was trying to figure out what can I do to kind of disturb his level that he had at this moment. I do want to say I guess I did something, because it became 4-3, and I even felt like, you know what, 4-3, it’s small chance. Then, well, there was not a big chance finally.

“That’s how I’m no matter the rating. I attempt to win one recreation at first, possibly one more after. The matches can flip a bit more in all probability in girls’s tennis, however in males’s tennis as nicely we noticed some loopy issues. So I simply attempt to say to myself, like, until the final level, attempt to struggle. Then the final level was not for me this time.”

Medvedev knew practically nothing about Tien when they faced off in the second round here last year. However, they played two more electrifying matches later in the season. The Russian withdrew in the third set of their Beijing encounter while suffering cramps so severe he could barely move, and then defeated Tien days later at the Shanghai Masters.

Their competition was labeled one of the finest of 2025 by the ATP Tour website, and Medvedev speaks positively of his young opponent. Yet even he was caught off guard by the standard the 20-year-old brought to the court on Sunday.

“In a means, yes, as a result of yeah, he performed great. He performed great, super-aggressive. Even after I was making good pictures, he was making a higher shot back. Didn’t discover many options right this moment on the courtroom, which is uncommon, and I did not really feel that many instances in my life like this,” the 2021 US Open champion said.

“But, again, these items can occur. He had, like, unbelievable match the place all the things went in. It did occur to me as nicely a couple of instances, and also you even form of really feel sorry to your opponent, as a result of, okay, I can go for tweener now and doubtless with closed eyes and make it. It occurs. I ought to have, yeah, ought to have achieved possibly one thing a little bit higher to attempt to disturb this rhythm of his.”

Despite losing, Medvedev is taking the positives from his trip to Australia. He added: “I feel I ought to focus more usually. If we take final, like, possibly eight tournaments, to illustrate ranging from US Open, so I do not know if it is, like, eight, 9, I performed great.

“I beat a lot of players. I played great against some top players. In general, I was going far in the results. Even here, I won two very tough matches against opponents who played well, [Quentin] Halys and Fabian [Marozsan]. So I should try not to focus on this exact match, which was not good, because, I mean, he outplayed me, so that’s not a good feeling. But I should focus more on the general picture and just continue working the way I did for the last tournaments.”