"I felt absolutely terrible" - Daniil Medvedev on his narrow loss to Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open 2022 final
Rafael Nadal clinched the 2022 Australian Open title in dramatic fashion, beating Daniil Medvedev in what was an exhilarating final encounter. The Russian reflected on the final as he revealed that he felt 'absolutely terrible' after losing out to the Spaniard by a narrow margin.
Medvedev looked well in control of the final in the early stages, having secured the first two sets convincingly. However, Nadal's experience proved to be too good for the Russian.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion climbed his way back into the match as he went on to win the next two sets comfortably and sealed the deal in the final set on a tie-break.
During a press conference ahead of the Adelaide International, Medvedev reflected on is loss at Melbourne Park in 2022.
"Well, I felt terrible. I felt absolutely terrible," he stated. "Again, the thing about life and tennis is that you have to get over it, try to learn from it because you cannot change the past."
The 2021 US Open champion conveyed that he has encountered several such tough moments during his career and that he has always 'managed to find a way back'.
"I had some tough moments in my career," the 26-year-old added. "When I say tough moments, tough losses - I know a lot of losses in a row, and I always managed to find a way back. So I'm sure I'm going to find the way back to an even higher level than I was playing maybe last year."
The World No. 7 hopes that he can better the results in the upcoming Australian Open in comparison to last year.
"Right now, yeah, I'm looking forward to the Australian Open again, and I want to do better than last year. That's the goal," asserted Medvedev.
“As a professional, you never know, hopefully not" - Rafael Nadal on whether 2023 will see his last outing at the Australian Open
Rafael Nadal revealed that he does not plan to wrap up his trip to the Australian Grand Slam with this year's Australian Open.
The Spaniard will be keen to defend his title and things might turn out to be much harder for the player in comparison to 2022 with the addition of nine-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic.
In a conversation with Eurosport, Nadal conveyed that he is determined to 'fight for anything' and 'create something special' at Australia's major tournament.
"I’m just focused on trying to play at the highest level possible and give myself a possibility to keep being competitive, to fight for anything," he said. "Let’s try to enjoy it as much as possible and let’s try to create something special."
When asked about whether it will be the last Australian Open for Nadal, he replied:
“Last trip to Australia? No. As a professional, you never know, hopefully not. I mean, when you are at the age of 36, you never know when it’s going to be the last one"