Daniil Medvedev recovered from his on-court collapse on Monday to produce a dominant victory against Alex De Minaur at the ATP Nitto Finals and sent a very direct message to his critics after the victory.
The Russian star had vented her fury by smashing her racquet on the ground and throwing it into the air during her straight sets loss to Taylor Fritz earlier in the week.
It came after a very unusual performance from the former US Open champion, who committed eight double faults during his first match in the final.
On Tuesday, the 28-year-old cut a much more composed figure, dispatching De Minaur 6-2 6-4 and leaving the 25-year-old Australian’s hopes of securing a place in the last 16 of the final on hold. . fine thread.
As De Minaur tried to fight his way into the match, the 2020 champion was too strong and also looked like he had something to prove, beating 25 winners to the Australian star to take the win.
Daniil Medvedev bizarrely covered his ears and claimed he was “blocking out the noise” after beating Alex De Minaur 2-0 on Tuesday.
It came after Medvedev collapsed on court following his loss to Taylor Fritz on Monday.
De Minaur was sent off the court by Daniil Medvedev during Tuesday’s match in his second consecutive loss at the event.
After the match, Medvedev approached television cameras and appeared to write the words “block out the noise” with a smiley face on the lens.
He turned away from the cameras before placing both fingers in his ears and stood for a moment as the crowd applauded his performance.
He would later explain the gesture, stating that he had followed the example of Dutch footballer Memphis Depay.
“I think a lot of football players do it. Maybe Memphis Depay was the first,” Medvedev said.
‘If I understand correctly, it’s about social media and stuff. After my performance against Taylor and some of my comments, I came into this match blocking out the noise even from myself.
“No tantrums, just blocking out the noise, I didn’t care what was happening on the court, I just tried to play and it was a good feeling.”
Sometimes it’s good to do it yourself. The more popular you become, the more fans you get, the more enemies you get, the more attention, sometimes even good noise can throw you off balance.
Medvedev had smashed his racket on the court floor in a fit of rage during his loss to Fritz.
But he seemed to have ignored the problems of his previous match and put in a sensational performance to see off De Minaur.
Footballer Memphis Depay previously held the celebration and previously gave the reason for the gesture, also stating that he was blocking out the noise of others.
De Minaur didn’t play badly, but he was simply outplayed by the Russian, who hit 24 winners.
De Minaur’s hopes of getting a place in the competition’s qualifying rounds were left hanging by a thread.
“You win everything and you’re a god, and then you lose two games in a row and everyone says, ‘Your career is over.'” “Sometimes it’s good to just block it out and I did that well today.”
It comes after a long season in which the winner of the 2020 ATP final has not won any events this year. He came awfully close in January after Jannik Sinner beat him in the Australian Open final before being usurped by Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s final at Indian Wells.
Medvedev took the first set in 40 minutes and put pressure on De Minaur from the start.
The Australian managed to save a break point in the first game, but his opponent applied more pressure, breaking him again in the third and fourth exchanges.
Although the Russian took command of the match, De Minaur’s work defending himself from his attacks, jumping from one line to another was commendable.
A cautious second set followed, in which Medvedev had to wait until the ninth game for an opening, where he would break De Minaur’s serve to go 5-4 up and subsequently serve to win 6-4.
Having suffered two defeats in his debut at the ATP Finals, De Minaur’s hopes of reaching the round of 16 in his debut at the tournament have been left hanging by a thread.
He will face Fritz next Thursday and will need to seal victory by a large margin to have any chance of progressing.
