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Daniil Medvedev had a nightmare Sunday at the 2024 Australian Open, where he let slip a two-sets-to-none lead in the final against Jannik Sinner.
Playing against a Major final debutant in the form of Sinner, Medvedev took the opening two sets 6-3, 6-3 to move within one set of his second Grand Slam title and first in Melbourne.
Sinner, however, found his footing from there on, just as exhaustion caught up with the Russian. Prior to the final, Daniil Medvedev had played three five-setters, including both the quarterfinals and the semifinals, and two four-setters at Melbourne Park. Sinner, in direct contrast, had lost just one set along the way -- against Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.
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With his opponent showing signs of breaking, the Italian stepped into gear, taking the next three sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 to win his maiden Grand Slam trophy. Sinner thus achieved the rare distinction of winning his very first Slam final.
Medvedev, meanwhile, lost his third final at the Australian Open, with his previous loss also coming from two sets up. In the final of the 2022 edition, the former World No. 1 surrendered a 2-0 lead to 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal.
Tennis fans on social media were heartbroken to see Daniil Medvedev on the receiving end of another such loss, with one Twitter user stating that it was even worse than his defeat to Nadal.
"I didn't think there's gonna be a more heartbreaking defeat after the Australian Open 2022 final happened, but here it is, 2 years later, same place, it's even worse. I'm so heartbroken," one fan wrote.
Another fan commented that if they were Daniil Medvedev, they would never touch a tennis racquet again after such a cruel loss.
"If I'm Daniil Medvedev, I'm never playing tennis again after this. I'm calling it a day. Doing something else. Never looking at a racket again. What's tennis?" the fan wrote.
Here are a few more reactions from fans:
Daniil Medvedev now 1-5 in Grand Slam finals
Following his defeat in the final of the 2024 Australian Open, Daniil Medvedev is 1-5 in Grand Slam finals. His lone win came in the 2021 edition of the US Open, where he beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets.
Medvedev has two other losses at the US Open, one coming to Rafael Nadal in 2019 and the other to Djokovic in 2023. At the Australian Open, the Russian has fallen to Djokovic in 2021, Nadal in 2022, and now to Jannik Sinner.
