Watch: Daniil Medvedev picks his 2022 FIFA team of the year
Daniil Medvedev took to Instagram earlier on Thursday to name his 2022 FIFA team of the year based on both association and national football events.
Medvedev began by asserting that he was going with an aggressive 4-3-3 system. The Russian proceeded to pick Italy's Gianluigi Donnarumma as his goalkeeper, who he felt was one of the best performers at the Euros last year. He added Paris Saint-Germain's Marquinhos and Manchester City's Ruben Dias as his center-backs, calling their performances for their respective clubs "pretty sensational."
Considering his team's attacking intent, the World No. 2's next two picks came as no surprise. He chose England's Trent Alexander-Arnold and Canada's Alphonso Davies as his full-backs, insisting that his team's game plan was to score more goals than concede.
Alexander-Arnold and Davies are apt for such a set-up since they are attacking full-backs who enjoy bombing up and down the flanks.
The 2021 US Open winner then picked a very stable trio in his midfield - France's N'Golo Kante, Germany's Joshua Kimmich and Italy's Jorginho.
The Russian was rather brash about his midfield selections and perhaps rightly so. While Kimmich and Kante impressed for club and country last season, Jorgingo played a pivotal role in Italy's triumph at the Euros.
At the end of the video, the Russian named three attackers in his team that almost everyone was expecting him to pick - France's Karim Benzema, Poland's Robert Lewandowski and Egypt's Mohamed Salah. He called the trio "goal-scoring machines," as evidenced by their incredible scoring records in club football last season.
Daniil Medvedev has a relatively easy draw at Australian Open 2022
Daniil Medvedev began his 2022 season with a tough three-set loss to Ugo Humbert at the ATP Cup. But he bounced back strongly to beat Alex de Minaur, Matteo Berrettini and Felix Auger-Aliassime in his next three matches at the team event, giving him plenty of confidence going into the Melbourne Slam.
Medvedev, who won his maiden Grand Slam title at last year's US Open, has a good chance of adding to his haul at this year's Australian Open. The Russian has received a relatively easy draw in Melbourne. Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev have been pitted against each other in the top half of the draw. This means the No. 2 seed is the only player along with Marin Cilic in the bottom half to have reached a hardcourt Major final.
Medvedev will have potential meetings with Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas in the latter stages of the tournament. The Russian enjoys a 5-1 advantage in his head-to-head with Rublev and a 6-2 advantage over Tsitsipas.