"How do you recover from that situation" - Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs on Daniil Medvedev's late-night finish in Australian Open 2R win

Serena Williams' former coach Rennae Stubbs recently gave her thoughts on Daniil Medvedev's late-night finish during his second-round match at the 2024 Australian Open.

Medvedev defeated Emil Ruusuvuori 3-6, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-0 at the Rod Laver Arena in a match that concluded at 3:40 a.m. local time. This elevated the former World No. 1's record at the Melbourne Slam to 23 wins and only seven losses.

Following the match, Rennae Stubbs expressed her concerns about Daniil Medvedev's ability to recover after such a late-night finish. She mentioned that while Medvedev might be able to push through and play, these types of late-night matches can have significant impacts on players, both physically and mentally.

"Certainly one person to worry about as far as, can they recover, of course, is Mr. Daniil Medvedev. Wow, what is he gonna do? I didn’t even know how do you recover from that situation," Stubbs said in a recent episode of 'The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast' (at 15:59).

"I mean, he’s so relaxed in general in some ways that he’ll probably be fine, but still, that takes it out of you finishing that late and physically and emotionally and all that sort of stuff," she added.

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Daniil Medvedev on his late night finish: "This one is for sure going to stay in my memory"

Medvedev at the 2024 Australian Open

Following his win over Emil Ruusuvuori, Daniil Medvedev gave his thoughts on his comeback win and the late-night finish during his post-match on-court interview. He expressed that this match would be etched in his memory for years to come.

“It was tough. I think the only two matches when I went two-sets-to-love down and won, it was here, on this court. So that’s a good memory for sure. This one is for sure going to stay in my memory, at 3:40 in the morning,” Medvedev said.

Medvedev, in the initial stages of the match, committed numerous errors, especially on his backhand side. He acknowledged that it might be considered superstitious, but he experienced a notable transformation in his game after opting to switch rackets, resulting in fewer mistakes.

“It was not easy to start the match and in the first set I was missing too much. I was missing all over the place. Then I [changed my racquets] and finally found one where I felt like I was playing better. Sometimes it is just something you create in your mind. I stayed with this racquet. I started with it at the beginning of the third set and stayed with it until the end of the match,” he added

Daniil Medvedev will face Portugal's Nuno Borges in the fourth round at the 2024 Australian Open.