Picture Credit: Twitter
The Australian Open 2022 grand finale kicked off in style for Daniil Medvedev but over the course of 5 hours and 24 minutes, it turned into a nightmare for him. The Russian, who won the first two sets, was constantly booed by the crowd who were quite evidently supporting Rafael Nadal.
As Medvedev started to feel cramps along with Nadal raising the bar of his game, things eventually started to de-rail for World No. 2 as he eventually succumbed to a 6-2, 7-6, 4-6, 4-6, 5-7 defeat at the hands of 21-time Grand Slam champion.
As expected, the crowd at Rod Laver Arena was ecstatic but Medvedev was not a happy man, understandably so. The Russian had played some superb tennis throughout the course of tournament but he never got along well with the Australian crowd, and it seemed like he was not ready to forgive them for how they had treated him.
ALSO READ | How did Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic react on Rafael Nadal’s incredible Australian Open 2022 triumph?
When Chairperson of Tennis Australia Jayne Hrdlicka was praising him for his fantastic performance and the crowd finally applauding him, Mevdedev was captured saying 'So Boring' in what was a clear act of him showing his dissent and unhappiness for the people inside the stadium, presumably for their behaviour towards him throughout the tournament.
The short clip of Medvedev's actions during post-match presentation got viral on social media, where fans had their own way of interpreting it. While some thought that the player was rude and disrespectful, others opined that it was just his natural and honest reaction considering how he had been treated the entire day.
Watch the video here:
It's disappointing and it's disrespectful: Medvedev
The 25-year-old also opened up on how he actually felt about the fans' lack of support for him during the final match. "It's disappointing and it's disrespectful," he said.
"I remember there was a lot of talk like we want the young generation to go for it, to be better and I was really pumped up to really try and give them (top players) a hard time. Well, I guess these people were lying because every time I stepped on the court for these big matches I didn't see many people who wanted me to win," Medvedev concluded.