Daniil Medvedev is perfectly at ease taking the road less hyped at this year’s Australian Open, even if it requires negotiating a few early detours.
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On Monday, the 27-year-old slowly but surely began his eighth campaign at Melbourne Park, unperturbed at having dropped a set. He was, admittedly, helped when his opponent, unheralded Grand Slam debutant Terence Atmane, cramped two hours into the match, Medvedev prevailing 5-7 6-2 6-4 1-0 (ret).
A slower start for Medvedev was unsurprising given the third seed, like Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, opted against any lead-up tournaments.
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While chatter around Novak Djokovic’s potential disruptors had largely eluded Medvedev in favour of the next generation’s frontrunners, Medvedev was ready to let his results lob him back into the fray.
“I was two times in the final, and one I was really close to winning, so I really hope I can show my best tennis one time here, at least one, and win it,” Medvedev said.
“I feel like at US Open, I feel like many times I peak because you're still not yet exhausted of the season, and it's like for me the best moment where you had a lot of matches coming in, Toronto, Cincinnati. Have one week of practice, and you go for it.
“In Australia, it's different. You have a pre-season, so you know you're going to be ready for the season but for this exact tournament, not sure.
“So, I feel like today I played well, even losing the first set. I feel like it was good for the first match, so I hope I can only play better and better and try to win it.”
A third-round exit to Sebastian Korda last year did him few favours in pundits’ eyes, but was just the awakening he needed to rebound from outside the top 10 and end the season back at world No.3.
Against the 22-year-old French qualifier on Monday, it became a test of patience and a battle for Medvedev to maintain concentration at Margaret Court Arena, careful not to let on to his opponent that he too was doing it tough.
World No.144 Atmane owned just one tour-level match win ahead of his first showdown against a top-10 opponent, but took it to the US Open 2021 champion before his body began to fail him.
“I think you always try to show as less as possible to your opponent. Then sometimes it happens that you show it either because you are tired and you can't handle it anymore, or something like this, or because you had too much frustration,” Medvedev said.
“But I think in general it's always better not to show it because maybe five minutes before he cramped, I start showing him that I'm tired or something like this, maybe he wouldn't cramp. Who knows? Mind can be really strong and crazy and tricky sometimes.”
Having let a 5-3 lead slip to concede the opening set, Medvedev was determined to stop the rot.
Deceptively agile for his 198cm frame, he scooped up successive drop shots and picked off a volley from close range, which left his opponent – nicknamed “The Magician” – smiling in disbelief in the opening game of the second set.
It proved pivotal as Medvedev broke and opened up a 4-0 lead in 35 minutes, at which point his most pressing concern became about the water in his drink bottles not being cold enough to quench his thirst.
As the match approached the two-hour mark at 1-all in the third, cramps gripped Atmane’s upper right leg.
Hunched in agony, he bellowed in frustration at his predicament. While Atmane stuck it out for a further nine games, the pin was pulled 37 minutes later.
“He's not used to Grand Slams also yet, so a lot of nerves,” Medvedev said of his opponent.
“The heat is there, so physically it's not easy, I think … I'm happy that I managed to be stronger physically because it was not easy at one moment. At this moment he started cramping. I was, like, 'okay, it's not easy for him also'. Just have to stay in there.”