Daniil Medvedev can write himself into another chapter of tennis history by achieving the ultra-rare feat of winning his second singles major immediately after clinching his first.
But the Russian No.2 seed certainly won’t have the bulk of the Australian Open crowd on his side when he steps onto Rod Laver Arena.
The large majority of spectators are expected to be cheering on Spanish champion Rafael Nadal, who can become the first man in history to win 21 singles grand slams. He’s currently tied on 20 with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.
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Medvedev has made himself the villain of the piece.
He seemingly got the Australian Open crowd off side during his win over Nick Kyrgios early in the second round, when he chastised spectators for making noise during his serve, saying they had “a low IQ”.
And then came an extraordinary spray at chair umpire Jaume Campistol during his semi-final win, in which the 25-year-old labelled the official “stupid” and called him “a small cat” as his temper boiled out of control. He was whacked with a $12,000 fine.
But according to Australian tennis great Todd Woodbridge, Medvedev thrives on being the bad guy – and it’s a trait he’s learned from Djokovic.
“He likes that,” Woodbridge told Wide World of Sports’ The Morning Serve.
“Rafa is going to be the crowd favourite, but (Medvedev) understands that, and he uses it.
“He’s done it at the US Open and he’s even done it here. There are times when we’ve seen Novak Djokovic use that to rev himself up and get going.
“I’m expecting, yes, we will see that. But also, given we’re in the final, it’s going to be very focused from him.
“I don’t think he’ll be wanting to go down that path and getting his concentration distracted in that way.”
Medvedev has met Nadal three times on the ATP circuit and is facing a 3-1 head-to-head deficit.
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