Daniil Medvedev has jokingly urged tennis fans to support him instead of his rivals Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz.
Sinner and Alcaraz have rapidly become two of the biggest superstars on the ATP Tour, helped massively by their displays on the court.
Before Alexander Zverev won the recent French Open, the pair combined to claim nine Grand Slam titles in a row.
But Russian ace Medvedev believes his roller-coaster career is much more entertaining to follow than those of the Italian and the Spaniard.
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Daniil Medvedev jokes fans should support him over Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz
After winning his second round match at Wimbledon, Medvedev was asked on Tennis Channel: “Would you want to be a fan of you?”
Issuing a light-hearted response, he said honestly: “A fan of me? Ohhh, I think it’s not easy. I think it’s not easy.
“But again, it’s the same in every sport. It’s great to be a fan of Jannik or Carlos. It’s amazing… but sometimes you need a bit of fun, you need a bit of disappointment to feel alive.
“And then once there is a disappointment and you think ‘okay, I mean, it’s not great…’ then bam, big, big happiness. So I think I would personally not want to be, but I think it’s great to be my fan.”
Daniil Medvedev shares how he deals with disappointment in tennis
Medvedev has enjoyed a sensational career so far, with the 30-year-old having claimed 23 titles on the ATP Tour.
He is also a former world number one and lifted the US Open trophy high in 2021, his only Grand Slam title to date.
However, there have understandably been lows amid all the highs, namely losing five of his six Grand Slam finals.
| Result | Year | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 2019 | US Open | Hard | Rafael Nadal | 5–7, 3–6, 7–5, 6–4, 4–6 |
| Loss | 2021 | Australian Open | Hard | Novak Djokovic | 5–7, 2–6, 2–6 |
| Win | 2021 | US Open | Hard | Novak Djokovic | 6–4, 6–4, 6–4 |
| Loss | 2022 | Australian Open | Hard | Rafael Nadal | 6–2, 7–6(7–5), 4–6, 4–6, 5–7 |
| Loss | 2023 | US Open | Hard | Novak Djokovic | 3–6, 6–7(5–7), 3–6 |
| Loss | 2024 | Australian Open | Hard | Jannik Sinner | 6–3, 6–3, 4–6, 4–6, 3–6 |
Sharing how he deals with such disappointment, the experienced Russian explained: “There are different ways.
“Sometimes you try for sure to disconnect. It’s not the best way because you need to be careful with this.
“But sometimes you know just going on vacation or playing computer games or something like this can help.
“Sometimes you need to actually, in a way, go into disappointments, say, ‘Okay, what happened that I lost and became disappointed? What can I do better? Where can we maybe practice better or do some other stuff better?’
“So it depends. There are many ways, but the most important is to stay positive for definitely what’s next to come, and also what’s happening right now.
“Because once you’re disappointed, you can look around and actually grass is green and sun is shining… when it’s not raining.”
The weather has thus far largely been cooperative at Wimbledon, where Medvedev has battled into the third round.
The eighth seed beat Marin Cilic 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in his opening match, before coming from behind to defeat Daniel Merida Aguilar 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-2.
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