Daniil Medvedev makes Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner confession ahead of potential showdown

Daniil Medvedev makes Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner confession ahead of potential showdown

Daniil Medvedev has declared that he does not know whether he would rather face Novak Djokovic or Jannik Sinner in a potential 2024 Australian Open final showdown.

The world No 3 was also not concerned by the number of times he has lost his serve en route to reaching the semi-finals and highlighted that Djokovic has also been broken “a lot.”

Medvedev outlasted world No 9 Hubert Hurkacz to prevail 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in an entertaining quarter-final in Melbourne on Wednesday.

The Russian will face world No 6 Alexander Zverev in the last four of the Australian Open on Friday after the 26-year-old German upset second seed Carlos Alcaraz in four sets.

The 2021 US Open champion will face either 10-time Australian Open winner Djokovic or world No 4 Sinner, who is yet to drop a set, if he reaches the title match in Melbourne.

Following his gruelling win over Hurkacz, Medvedev was asked whether he would prefer to face Djokovic or Sinner if he were to progress to the final on Sunday.

“Yeah, the thing is Jannik is playing so good now, so if I’m 100% honest with you, if you ask me who — let’s say I’m in the final — who do I want to play, Novak, who never lost here, whatever, is going for some crazy stats, or Jannik who is not losing a set even when he’s 5-1 down in the tiebreak and stuff like this,” he said.

“I’m like, I don’t know (smiling). I really don’t know. I want them to go 7 hours 30, tiebreak 30-28 in the fifth, and then maybe let’s see if they are a little bit tired on Sunday. No, I think it’s going to be a great match. I’m really going to enjoy it as much as I can.

“I’m going to prepare my match, but if I have some time to watch, I’m going to enjoy it. They had a great rivalry end of the season with Turin/Davis Cup, so really, really going to enjoy it and let’s see who wins, and then hopefully you can ask me before the final something (smiling).”

The former world No 1 also appeared unfazed when asked about the fact his serve had been broken 18 times in his five matches at the tournaments

“Yeah, we should see, because I see Novak I think got a lot of broken also. It’s maybe something with the balls or the court. In Rod Laver Arena, since I played it the first time, there is one side against the wind,” Medvedev explained.

“Very tough to, like — I think if I would not be mistaken, I think I lost all the serves on this side today. It’s a very tough side to serve because unless you serve 220 like Hubi, basically it’s much easier to return from there and you always put pressure on your opponents.

“I’m not really too much — sorry, I forgot the word. Worried. I’m really not too much worried about this, especially when you win matches. I feel like I’m actually serving good. So yeah. But yeah, good that I manage to be in the semis getting broken 18 times. I think that’s good.”