After missing out on a medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games Daniil Medvedev says he has managed to overcome the disappointment with the help of some words said by one of his peers.
The world No.2 was the second seed in Tokyo but lost in the quarter-finals to Pablo Carreno Busta who went on to clinch the bronze medal. Medvedev also competed in the doubles tournament with Aslan Karatsev but lost in the first round.
After missing out on silverware, Medvedev is drawing inspiration from Novak Djokovic who also experienced disappointment at the Olympics. The Serbian finished fourth in the men’s singles tournament and then was forced to pull out of the mixed doubles bronze medal playoff due to a shoulder injury. Following his withdrawal, Djokovic posted a message on social media vowing that he will return stronger than before. Something Medvedev also hopes will be the same for him.
“Olympics was a tough shot, I would say. To be completely honest, when Novak lost, I saw all over the social media what he said. And what he said, especially after he lost the third place (match), he said that all his Olympic defeats were very tough. But then he came back only stronger and he knew that that would make him stronger. I was like, I was really disappointed with the way Olympics ended for me,” Medvedev told reporters following his win over Alexander Bublik at the National Bank Open.
“If the guy who is probably the greatest tennis player of all time, with 20 Slams, 37 Masters or whatever, says this, well I have to kind of follow what he does,” he added.
The 25-year-old has now reset for the North American tennis swing where he will be bidding to claim his maiden major title at the US Open. In Toronto he is the top seed this week with all members of the Big Three absent from the draw, as well as next week’s Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati. Both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are dealing with injury issues. Meanwhile, Djokovic has opted to take a longer rest ahead of the US Open following his shoulder problem.
Prior to this week, the Russian went to Orlando in order to ‘disconnect’ and recover before entering into the Canadian bubble.
“I tried to disconnect from the loss, and now, in a way I don’t remember it. Of course, I wanted to do better, but now the goal is to try to win this tournament, to try to win Cincinnati, to try to win US Open,” he said.
Medvedev will next play James Duckworth in Toronto who has already scored wins over Taylor Fritz and Jannik Sinner.
