"Steph Curry is good looking, I want to see him" - Kasidit Samrej lays bare his future plans after taking Australian Open by storm

Thailand's Kasidit Samrej took the 2025 Australian Open by storm on Tuesday, January 14. He came realistically close to eliminating World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev in the first round.

Playing his debut main draw match at a Grand Slam, Samrej frustrated Medvedev to an extent that the Russian broke the net camera with his racket. He won the second and third sets before Medvedev found his rhythm and won the encounter 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in three hours and eight minutes.

Following the match, Samrej sat down with the media at Melbourne Park and Sportskeeda used the opportunity to ask him about his admiration for NBA superstar Steph Curry.

Q. On your ATP bio it says that you're a big Steph Curry fan. Do you think tennis will one day lead you to meet Steph Curry?

"I hope so. That going to be like great so much that I'm going to meet him, yeah," the Thai tennis player replied with a smile.

Q. What is it about Steph Curry that inspires you?

"I think he's great-looking, and I like the way he shoot the ball. Yeah, I want to see him someday," Samrej responded.

---

Kasidit Samrej on troubling Daniil Medvedev at Australian Open: "The dropshot worked for me today"

In Picture: Kasidit Samrej in action at the 2025 Australian Open. (Getty)

Further during the same press interaction at the 2025 Australian Open, Kasidit Samrej, in reply to another Sportskeeda question, shared that he made a tactical decision to use the dropshot more against Daniil Medvedev, who prefers staying deep in the court.

"That was the plan that I talked to my coach and try to use the dropshot more than just hit in groundstroke, and I try to keep to the net, but that's not easy. I think the dropshot is a good choice for me today, and it worked for me today," Samrej said.

Samrej also told Sportskeeda that he wanted to put Thailand on the tennis map courtesy of his efforts.

"Yeah, I have thought about that. I want to bring Thai tennis back in the map. Tennis in Thai is not that popular right now, and now it's getting famous again. I want to be the one who bring the tennis back, yeah," the World No. 418 said.

Interestingly, Samrej is the first man from Thailand to compete in a Grand Slam singles draw since his countryman Danai Udomchoke played at the 2012 Australian Open.