Daniil Medvedev called the physio to the court after dropping the third set to Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open final. The world No. 3 was cruising when he led 6-3 6-3. But he has already lost one final in Melbourne from a two-set lead and will be hoping to avoid a repeat of that heartbreak.
Before stepping onto the court for his third Australian Open final, many thought Medvedev would be fatigued after spending more than 20 hours on court across his first six matches. The 27-year-old came back from two sets twice – in the semi-final against Alexander Zverev and in the second-round against Emil Ruusuvuori in a match that finished at 3.40am.
But he made Sinner look tired as he came onto the court with a clear game plan – be aggressive. Medvedev took it to the world No. 4, racing through the first two sets to lead 6-3 6-3 in 86 minutes. The Russian looked to be on the verge of victory with Sinner serving at 4-4 in the third set as he got to deuce but the 22-year-old held on and broke to take the set 6-4.
After the first three games of the fourth set, Medvedev then called physios to the court to redo the existing strapping on one of his feet. “He’s just had his feet looked at. The trainer has been out and redone the strapping,” Nick Lester said on commentary.
“There was a fairly hefty amount of strapping on that foot. Which doesn’t come as a huge surprise given the amount of miles he’s clocked up this week.” Tim Henman agreed that it was an expected issue rather than a major concern because of how much time Medvedev had spent on court over the fortnight.
The Brit added: “When you’re playing these long matches and you’re playing in hot conditions your feet sweat so much and then the skin gets pretty soft and you can get those blisters, you can get the build up of blood under your toenails. It’s not a pleasant sight, tennis players’ feet. That’s for sure.”
Medvedev is hoping to avoid a repeat of the final from two years ago, where he led Rafael Nadal by two sets and had break points in the third before going on to lose. At the time, the world No. 3 said his childhood dream had “died” and it took several months for the scar tissue to wear off.
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