Daniil Medvedev is among the ATP players enjoying themselves at the Australian Open, having just reached the third round.
Medvedev has been backed to contend at the Australian Open, where the experienced Russian is the 11th seed.
He defeated Jesper De Jong and Quentin Halys in rounds one and two respectively, and now meets Fabian Marozsan in round three of the Grand Slam.
Ahead of his next Australian Open match, Medvedev has shared insight into his relationship with his ATP rivals, and the general atmosphere between them off the court.
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Daniil Medvedev loves ‘super friendly’ ATP locker room
When asked if there are ever any awkward moments in the locker room, he replied: “That’s a very good question, because probably five, six days ago I was talking to my coaches.
“They’re both here, Rohan [Goetzke] and Thomas [Johansson]. Rohan was coaching on the tour like, what, maybe 20 years ago. Yeah, around 20. Maybe even more.
“Thomas was playing kind of at the same time. I only know the locker room since I came in, and to be honest, I always said, it’s super, like, friendly.
“Yes, on the court sometimes we can… I mean, never fight, but we can have a chat here and there. Maybe there is, I don’t know, two, three guys out of the top 100 you don’t like, but in general, it’s a super friendly atmosphere.
“Everyone laughs, even sometimes before the matches or after the matches. If you’re really in a good relationship, you can kind of laugh it off. I heard from them that 20 years ago it was as toxic as it could be.
“That’s what they say. So I don’t know if it’s ever in the podcast or something, but I heard some stories from Thomas. I’m never going to reveal them.
“I was, like, shocked. I was, like, but that’s why you guys finish your careers early because it’s constant pressure.
“He told me some stories where it’s, like, you know, from when you wake up, you’re already under pressure.
“Going to the locker room, you’re under pressure. I know our locker room is great. It’s very chill, very relaxing.
“You see [Carlos] Alcaraz and [Jannik] Sinner are sharing the jets or whatever. I think it’s good, because that’s what makes us enjoy tennis and enjoy the tour.”
Daniil Medvedev ready for tough test against familiar foe Fabian Marozsan
Despite being fierce rivals on the court, Sinner and Alcaraz did indeed travel to Melbourne together from their exhibition match in South Korea.
It strongly suggests that there is a healthy relationship between the pair, which seemingly filters down through the rankings.
Clearly it hasn’t always been that way, although it was more than likely only a handful of players that failed to see eye to eye.
Medvedev has definitely had his own enemies, but nothing compared to the infamously frosty relationship between legendary figures John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors.
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Intriguingly, the Russian now takes on a player that he knows very well, saying of Marozsan: “Yeah, I feel like we know each other quite a bit now. He’s been on tour now maybe for two years?
“We practice a couple of times, we played, so he’s a very strong player, fiery, can beat a lot of top 10 players, so he can, like, play very well.
“It’s good to know this, because, you know, I’m going to be ready for a very tough match. Need to be at my best to try to beat him, and, well, that’s basically what I’m going to try to do.”
While Medvedev is expecting a tough test, history is on his side against the Hungarian, having won both of their ATP matches so far.
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