On Sunday in the Rod Laver Arena, Rafael Nadal shook the world with his insane comeback after being 2 sets down to the world no. 2 Daniil Medvedev.
The match featured Nadal in a tremendous form that got the crowd chanting for him and booing Medvedev. This played a vital role in Medvedev’s head as he was continuously booed throughout the match. Medvedev post his match even talked about this saying, “From now on, I play for myself, for my family…for all Russians, because I feel a lot of support there,” he said. “I will say this: if there is a tournament in Moscow before Roland Garros or Wimbledon, I will go there even if I miss Wimbledon or Roland Garros or something else.”
“The kid stopped dreaming. The kid is going to play for himself.”
Medvedev was also being booed during and after his second round match against crowd favourite Nick Kyrgios and made it a point to tell the crowd how disrespectful they were being.
On the other side, Nadal said he understood the frustration but Medvedev will understand the role you have to let the crowd play in your head as he advances in his career.
“Nowadays, people tend to surrender to frustration and complain too much. Rafa, though, being down 2 sets to zero had no bad face, nothing. He knew, all the time, how to overcome difficulty, which I think is the most outstanding thing from yesterday’s match,” said Toni Nadal, Rafael’s father.