Medvedev back from the brink at 3.40am

Daniil Medvedev came back from two sets down to beat Emil Ruusuvuori 3-6, 6-7 (1) 6-4 7-6 (1) 6-0 after a match lasting 4 hours and 23 minutes which ended at 3.40 am local time  Melbourne.

The  Finn won the first set  in which Medvedev made 16 unforced errors.

Medvedev hit 51 winners to 63 unforced errors overall.

 In his post match interview Medvedev said “It was tough.

I think the only two matches when I went two sets to love down and won, it was here, on the 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.

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 raquets 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 raquet. I started with it at the beginning of the third set and stayed with it until the end of the match”, said Medvedev. 

The 2021 and 2022 Australian Open finalist improved his win-loss record to 23-7.

He faces a third-round match against Felix Auger Aliassime, who beat qualifier Hugo Grenier 6-1 3-6 6-1 6-2. 

Big questions need to be answered as tennis was taken to the brink of farce as the clock edged past 3.30am on Rod Laver Arena.

Following  heavy criticism of late finishes at last year’s Australian Open, tournament chief Craig Tiley claimed he had made  “a big move to ensure a repeat would not be possible in 2024”

Well before Daniil Medvedev and Emil Ruusuvuori finished their second round match in front of a sparse crowd the Australian Open took tennis to a new level of stupidity.

No other sport orders its top players to begin a match after 11pm at night and doesn’t appear to have any concern for their well-being as they are still playing almost four and a half hours later?

In any other sport, the head of the organisation would be charged with bringing the game into disrepute”

Outspoken veteran John McEnroe has slammed the Australian Open expansion to a 15-day event as a “money grab” which will benefit only the organiser – not the players.

The former Grand Slam champion and distinguished television commentator, expressed his outrage on ESPN.

The Open has moved the starting day to Sunday, scheduling 16 matches and running out the first round to a leisurely three days.

But the plan claimed by AO boss Craig Tiley as a way to help players with their match scheduling and hopefully cut out late-night, post-midnight finishes, is a non-starter according to Mac.

“First of all, it’s a money grab as far as I’m concerned,” he said in a conference call with American broadcaster ESPN.

“They just found another way to make some money. I don’t agree with it.