Daniil Medvedev of Russia hits a backhand against Rafael Nadal. Photo / Getty
World no. 2 Daniil Medvedev has revealed the crowd at the Australian Open crushed his spirit and made him doubt playing tennis in an emotional address to media after losing the men's final.
Rafael Nadal defeated Medvedev 2-6 6-7 6-4 6-4 7-5 in a marathon final at Melbourne Park on Sunday night, in front of a vocal crowd overwhelmingly in support of Nadal.
Medvedev had the title within his grasp but coughed up a two-sets-to-love lead as his Spanish opponent launched the most remarkable comeback of his career to overtake Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic with grand slam trophy number 21.
"It's going to be a little bit of a new press conference," Medvedev told media after the match, adding that he was going to start with a story about his tennis dreams as a kid.
The Russian star went on to explain his childhood and early career dreams, and the moments where he doubted if he should continue to dream about these big things.
"I'm just talking about few moments where the kid stopped dreaming, and today was one of them. I'm not going to really tell why," he said, adding that from now on he would only play for himself and his family.
"I'm going to say it like this. If there is a tournament on hard courts in Moscow, before Roland Garros or Wimbledon, I'm going to go there even if I miss the Wimbledon or Roland Garros or whatever.
"The kid stopped dreaming. The kid is going to play for himself. That's it. That's my story."
When a reporter asked Medvedev if he was referring to issues he had with the crowd over the past fortnight, he said he would not answer further questions about his story.
However, he had earlier made clear that he was not disappointed with his level of tennis and continued to answer the reporter's question by criticising the crowd.
"I'm just going to give one small example. Before Rafa serves even in the fifth set, there would be somebody, and I would even be surprised, like one guy screaming, 'C'mon, Daniil'," he said.
"A thousand people would be like, 'Tsss, tsss, tsss'. That sound. Before my serve, I didn't hear it. It's disappointing. It's disrespectful, it's disappointing. I'm not sure after 30 years I'm going to want to play tennis.
"Again, the kid that was dreaming is not anymore in me after today. It will be tougher to continue tennis when it's like this."
Medvedev said while the feeling had built up over time, Sunday's match was breaking point.
"Like the top of the mountain," he said.
When asked about Medvedev's struggles with the crowd, Nadal spoke fondly of his opponent and said he accepted the loss well.
"Of course it's better to have the crowd on your side," Nadal said. "Tonight was crazy for me. But I really believe he has a great future in front and he is going to feel this love of the crowd in the future because he deserves it."
Sunday night was not the first time Medvedev made his view of the Australian Open crowds clear. After his second round win against Australian Nick Kyrgios, Medvedev claimed noisy spectators had a "low IQ".
He also told the crowd to show more respect during his on-court interview with tennis great Jim Courier after the match.
Medvedev repeatedly complained about the crowd making noise during play in the epic final.
He motioned for the crowd to be silent after a loud cheer erupted following a critical double fault that gave Rafael Nadal a break of serve early in the fourth set.
"He doesn't like when they cheer unforced errors," Jim Courier said on Channel 9. "He is not happy and the crowd are at him."
Medvedev was earlier heard complaining to the chair umpire about fans yelling out during play.
"They are idiots. No brains," he was heard saying. "Empty brains. Probably in their life it must be very bad."
Tennis commentators reflected on the sad nature of Medvedev's press conference. Journalist Ben Rothenberg tweeted: "The short version, if I understand him right, is that Medvedev feels like he never gets crowd support, and it has ruined the dreams he had as a kid of what tennis would be tonight. These feelings are about the crowd tonight, but also cumulative."
The Tennis Podcast called it an "extraordinary, heartfelt press conference" and "the crowd reaction really hurt him".
Reporter Tim Callanan said Medvedev "seems genuinely hurt" by the way crowds have treated him.
Medvedev isn't the only one to criticise Australian Open crowds, with powerhouse doubles duo Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, from Croatia, saying they agreed with Medvedev on the need for Aussie fans to show more respect.
During the second set of her loss to Ash Barty in the women's final, Danielle Collins asked the umpire to tell fans to stop yelling out during points.