The catcalling and negative cheering that dogged world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev's campaign at Melbourne Park left him hopelessly deflated. So much so that the Russian doesn't see himself in the sport post 30.
Early on Monday, the 25-year-old delivered an emotional monologue ahead of his post-match interaction, calling it, 'a story of a young kid who dreamed big things in tennis'.
He touched on his early years in the game, the breakthroughs that came later, but walked around the jagged edges of a broken dream. "I'm talking about a few moments where the kid stopped dreaming, today was one of them. I'm not going to really tell why," Medvedev said, adding, "From now on I'm playing for myself, for my family, to provide for my family, for people that trust in me. Of course, for all the Russians because I feel a lot of support there." Medvedev didn't rule out being targetted because of his nationality.
"If there is a tournament on hardcourts in Moscow, before Roland Garros or Wimbledon, I'm going to go there even if I miss Wimbledon or Roland Garros. The kid stopped dreaming," he said. "The kid is going to play for himself."
Medvedev, who applauded the Melbourne Park crowd when they cheered his double fault, said, "Before Rafa served, even in the fifth set, there was somebody, this one guy screaming, 'come on, Daniil'. A thousand people would be like, tsss, tsss, tsss. ""Before my serve, I didn't hear it (tssss)," he said. "It's disappointing. It's disrespectful."
