Daniil Medvedev news: John McEnroe says Russian choked against Rafael Nadal

Australian Open
Daniil Medvedev wipes his face during a match

John McEnroe has described how Daniil Medvedev lost the Australian Open final match against Rafael Nadal at Melbourne Park on Sunday.

Nadal lifted his 21st Grand Slam title with a brilliant five-set victory over Daniil Medvedev, beating the Russian 2-6, 6-7, (5-7), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 on Rod Laver Arena.

While Nadal has received a lot of praise for coming from two sets down to defeat the reigning US Open champion, Medvedev’s inability to close out the match after dominating the early parts raised eyebrows.

McEnroe said the match was for Medvedev to lose and believes the 25-year-old should have been 4-2 in front in the third set.

“The turning point of the match was when Rafa served at 2-3 in the third. It felt like Rafa felt deflated. I do not want to say he was resigned because he never is, but it looked like he expected that this was about to happen and that he would end up losing in straight sets,” McEnroe told Eurosport.

“I think Medvedev played a couple, I do not want to say careless, but maybe loose points.”

Former world No 1 McEnroe said things could have been different, but Medvedev lost focus during the match.

The American continued: “That was the turning point. As soon as that slight momentum shift occurred, Daniil started to get tight.

“He choked in the third set at that point, as he should have been 4-2 in front. But once he let Rafa back in, that allowed the crowd to get back in, which was one of the most extraordinary efforts I have ever seen.”

Daniil Medvedev Rafael Nadal

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