Daniil Medvedev put on a clinic to defeat Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3 6-4 6-3 at the Australian Open on Sunday, booking his spot in the second week of the Grand Slam. But it wasn’t just his tennis that left the fans on Margaret Court Arena entertained as the No. 3 seed also gave a “golden” on-court interview to Jim Courier. Medvedev had the 7,500-strong crowd in stitches as he spoke about his younger days of going on nights out and recalled a time he fell asleep alongside his daughter.
Medvedev endured the latest finish at this year’s Australian Open on Thursday, completing his second-round match at 3.39am. The 27-year-old came back from two sets down to beat Emil Ruusuvuori but it was a different story against Auger-Aliassime as he got the job done in two hours and nine minutes.
It left plenty of time for a hilarious on-court interview, as Jim Courier quizzed Medvedev about his brutal late-night finish and how he managed to recover in time to beat the 27th seed in dominant fashion. “Came back to the hotel, done the physio work, went to bed at 7. Woke up at 12 then had an easy day, like I had a good night of sleep [last night],” Medvedev said of his post-second round routine.
And the comedy started to slip in as Medvedev continued: “So at least I have this super ability I can sleep where I want, whenever I want. Some players they tell me that sometimes after a tough match they cannot sleep for like two, three hours. They would not be possible to play because they would go to bed at 10. At least I had some hours of sleep.”
Medvedev also admitted that his relatively smooth recovery could be down to his old days of going out. Smiling, the former world No. 1 added: “When I was very young, maybe till 21 I was going out and it was not good for my tennis. I was not playing as I’m playing now. But maybe some practices without sleep sometimes helped me play today so let’s hope it was like this.”
Courier stepped in to commend Medvedev for his narration, telling the crowd: “This guy is just gold with a microphone, he’s magic. Not just with a racket.” The 2021 US Open champion continued to prove Courier’s point as he divulged on his usual sleeping habits when he wasn’t playing until almost 4am.
“Usually I think the best I love is to go to bed at 11 and wake up at 9. I’m a good sleeper,” Medvedev said, earning more laughter from the fans. “But actually guys I see here, at least where I stay, at 8 the breakfast is empty and at 10 it’s full so don’t laugh too much, don’t laugh too much.”
The world No. 3 was then asked how he managed his sleep schedule with a 15-month-old baby and revealed that he once fell asleep next to her and woke up to find she had left the room. “Well that’s a big problem,” he grinned. “So it was just before I left one morning we woke up early, we had to take someone to the airport, something like this, or someone was staying with the baby.
“Then we came back, it was 6 in the morning so my wife told me, ‘Look I want to sleep. I’m going to go in the room, go sleep with our daughter.’ So I go there, the first 30 minutes I was a little bit cautious and sleeping, not sleeping.”
After he finally managed to get some sleep, Medvedev learned that his daughter had been trying to wake him up to no avail. Laughing, he continued: “And then I wake up, 9, the daughter is not there. So my wife told me that she came at one moment and Alisa was in staying the bed and like, ‘Ah, ah, ah’ and I was just sleeping. My wife does all the job at night.”
Medvedev’s wife Daria is currently at home in Europe with Alisa, opting not to join the 27-year-old Down Under. While Medvedev will be eager to get back to his family, he will be hoping that he can go all the way and stay in Melbourne for another week. The third seed is set to face Nuno Borges for a spot in the quarter-final and is in the same half of the draw as Carlos Alcaraz, meaning he could face the Spaniard in the last four and Novak Djokovic in a potential final.
