Greek ace Stefanos Tsitsipas, who sensationally knocked out Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open quarterfinal, has changed his opinion about his next rival, Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, saying he doesn’t consider his style “boring.”
The players have faced each other on six occasions and were embroiled in a verbal spat in 2019 after Tsitsipas made comments about Medvedev’s tactics on the court.
The Greek erupted after losing to Medvedev in Shanghai, lashing out at the big Russian whose style he called “boring.”
“I don’t mean to be rude at all, actually, at all, but it’s just boring,” Tsitsipas said at the time.
“It’s boring. So he has a huge serve, and if you manage to get it back, it’s just countless balls inside the court.”
Medvedev hit back with his own caustic remarks, saying that he couldn’t “treat Tsitsipas seriously” anymore, especially after learning how he behaved after the Laver Cup win.
“I had a lot of thoughts. I will say only one thing: after his interview in Shanghai, where he told how they celebrated the victory in the Laver Cup, it is difficult to take him seriously,” Medvedev said.
“Just to quote: he said that he was forced to drink there, and that was disgusting,” he added.
Also on rt.com ‘Can you just let me play?’: Medvedev claims coach was ‘sure’ he would win despite bailing as he suffered Australian Open meltdown“Okay, that’s okay. But the most important thing: ‘Mom, you hear, it was disgusting! I can provide you a video.’ This is ridiculous. I can no longer take him seriously.”
Ahead of their Australian Open semifinal clash in Melbourne, Tsitsipas paid compliments to his rival, predicting that the game against his “extremely smart” opponent will be really tough.
"Medvedev is going to be a difficult task. He's in very good shape, playing good tennis, playing accurate, playing simple," said Tsitsipas.
"Might have said in the past that he plays boring, but I don't really think he plays boring. He just plays extremely smart and outplays you. He's somebody I really need to be careful with and just take my chances and press. That would be very important."
Medvedev has a huge advantage over Tsitsipas in terms of head-to-head meetings, winning five out of six of their previous encounters. However, the Greek won their last match at the ATP Tour Finals in 2019.
The 25-year-old Russian is in excellent shape right now, with a whopping 19-match winning streak which has seen him secure victories in the last three tournaments he has played in, including the Paris Masters, ATP Finals and the ATP Cup earlier this month.