Daniil Medvedev will look to finally get his hands on the Australian Open trophy at this year’s tournament.
2024 wasn’t the best year of Medvedev’s career, as he failed to pick up an ATP title for the first time since 2017.
Medvedev reached the Australian Open final in January, losing to Jannik Sinner in five sets, having led by two sets to love.
He continued his hard-court form with a final in Indian Wells, as Medvedev lost to Carlos Alcaraz for the second year running.
Things soon unraveled, and the Russian star struggled to compete with the very best on the ATP Tour, something that became clear at November’s ATP Finals.
Medvedev was criticized for his ‘bizarre’ behavior at the ATP Finals, as he exited the competition in the group stage.
He’ll be looking to get back on track this year, but first took time to answer some questions ahead of the Australian Open.
Daniil Medvedev thinks becoming a coach after he retires from tennis would be ‘stressful’
In his pre-tournament press conference, Medvedev was asked whether he would consider becoming a coach after he retires from tennis.
“About me being coach, I have no idea what I would do after my career,” he said.
“It could be anything, could be related to tennis or not.
“I heard from everyone that it’s pretty stressful to be in the box.
“In a way, like, you cannot control what your player is doing there, it’s a much tougher feeling.”
Medvedev went on to explain that the emotions he has experienced when playing team competitions such as the Laver Cup have given him an insight into what coaching would feel like.
“I can feel it when I play team competitions,” he said.
“You really want your teammate to win, when he misses, you’re like, come on, do better.
“It’s not the same when you’re on the court, so it could be pretty fun.”
Medvedev was then asked about Novak Djokovic’s new coaching relationship with Andy Murray, and whether he thinks the Brit will have much of an impact on the 24-time Slam winner.
“Yeah, the impact on Novak [Djokovic] is tough to say,” he said.
“The thing about coaching Novak, he’s so strong, that imagine he wins, is it because of Andy [Murray] or because it’s Novak?
“I think it’s a great partnership in terms of everything, even like energy, like media-wise, tennis-wise, growing like tennis, it’s great.
“Imagine [Lionel] Messi would become the coach of Cristiano Ronaldo, it would be strange.”
Who is Daniil Medvedev’s coach and how long have they been together for?
Medvedev may be undecided as to whether he wants to become a coach in the future, but he’ll certainly have learned a thing or two over the years from his coach Gilles Cervara.
The Frenchman began coaching Medvedev in 2017, and has worked closely with the world number five for all 20 of his ATP Tour titles.
Cervara was selected as coach of the year in 2019, and was nominated for the award again in 2020, and 2021.
Medvedev and Cervara won their only Grand Slam title to date at the 2021 US Open, shocking Djokovic in the final, preventing him from completing the elusive Calendar Grand Slam.
Since then the pair have reached a further three Grand Slam finals, losing on all three occasions, having led by two-sets to love in both the 2022, and 2024 Australian Open finals.
Medvedev will hope to finally get over the line and win a first title down under this year, and gets his campaign started against Kasidit Samrej on January 13.
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