Daniil Medvedev has refuted suggestions he shouted “karma” in celebration after defeating his bitter rival Alexander Zverev in a thrilling semi-final at the 2024 Australian Open.
The 2021 US Open winner did not reveal specifically what he said but explained it was something related to his team and mentality rather than about Zverev.
Medvedev showed incredible mental and physical resilience as he came from two sets down to win for the second time this tournament to overcome Zverev.
The feud between Medvedev and Zverev has been a talking point at the Australian Open after the recent release of the second season of Netflix’s Break Point tennis documentary series.
One episode focuses on Zverev’s comeback from the ankle injury he suffered at the 2022 French Open and features his loss to Medvedev at the 2023 Monte Carlo Masters. The 26-year-old German was critical of Medvedev’s behaviour following the pair’s clash in Monaco.
“Look, Medvedev is one of the best players in the world, but I also think that a lot of things that Medvedev does are frustrating at times,” Zverev said.
“He’s someone who knows how to play with the head of the opponent. I think there are a lot of unfair things happening in the game that he uses quite well to his advantage.
“I like to win and lose by playing tennis. I’m not someone who tries to do dirty games just to put your opponent off. That’s not how I was taught the game.”
Later in the episode, Zverev suggested that Medvedev’s surprise first round loss to Thiago Seyboth Wild at last year’s French Open was down to “karma” because of his apparent “dirty” tactics.
This has led some lip-readers on social media to interpret that Medvedev shouted “karma” to his team after beating Zverev in Melbourne in reference to his rival’s comments.
When this suggestion was put to Medvedev in his press conference, however, the world No 3 insisted he would not want to celebrate like that.
“No, no, no, it was not it. I tried to not go on Twitter but I went on Twitter and I saw it all over the place. I was like, Oh, my God,” the 27-year-old Russian explained.
“As I said just right now, I don’t want to go, let’s say — because it’s a little bit like when you try, you know, touch someone and then he touches you back and then you touch someone.
“I want to, you know, I had my moments, probably the most with [Stefanos] Tsitsipas, and even with him we seem to be, you know, we’re not friends but we seem to respect each other more than before.
“So same [with Zverev]. It was something related to my team. Something about mentality. So, yeah, nothing to do with this. I would not be happy to do it this way.”
Medvedev will face world No 4 Jannik Sinner in his third Australian Open final on Sunday.