Tennis

Three Ways Medvedev Lost the Crowd at the 2022 AO

We all know Daniil Medvedev can be a bit like Marmite. You either love the guy or you hate him. And unfortunately for Medvedev at the 2022 Australian Open, it seemed that he was more hated than loved. In the heartbreaking loss sustained in the final to Nadal, the crowd support was clearly on the side of the Spaniard. Then again, Nadal is loved all over the world, so this wasn’t an enormous surprise. But one has to wonder, did Medvedev bring such a biased crowd to himself, or was it always going to be this way?

Medvedev

Well, I believe that he actually lost the support of the crowd throughout the tournament. And in reality, this shift in support arguably cost him the title. Below, I’ll be taking a look at how he managed to turn the crowd against him.

Medvedev Madness at the 2022 Australian Open

I’d better confess before writing this – I’m a Medvedev fan. I think his somewhat quirky personality is good for the game. He says exactly what is on his mind and he doesn’t really care about adversity, not usually anyway. In fact, it seems to have worked for him in the past when facing a rather spicy crowd, much like it has for guys like Djokovic in the past. But putting that aside, here is how he managed to become public enemy number one at the Aussie:

Early Win Against Nick Kyrgios

It’s not so much the fact that he beat Nick Kyrgios, as everyone expected that he would do. It’s more the fact that he showed his displeasure with the crowd during this early match. Throughout the match, as expected, the crowd were heavily in favour of Kyrgios. But while he managed to keep his composure for most of the game, there were times when he did provoke them. This was shown with his celebrations and gestures to the crowd after winning big points. And with the Aussie crowds, they don’t seem to forget in a hurry.

Mention of Novak Djokovic

This was a classic moment of the 2022 Australian Open, in my opinion. Many people wondered how Djokovic would be received by the crowd if he was to actually compete at the event. And if you needed any convincing, Medvedev’s post-match press conference against Auger Aliassime provided us with the answer. He stated that when 2-0 down in sets, he thought to himself, ‘what would Novak do’? 

This was met with loud boos from the crowd, and subconsciously, this probably put Medvedev aligned with Djokovic, in their opinion.

Taunting the Crowd

In a similar fashion to what he did against Kyrgios, Medvedev taunted the crowd when things were going in his favour. I don’t particularly blame him for doing so, as it can’t be nice to have thousands of people cheering for you to lose. But in the heat of battle, he was seen provoking the crowd. This was clear after he won the second set against Nadal, by inviting them to keep cheering against him!


Subscribe to Punditfeed on Google News for all the latest updates from the world of sports!