Daniil Medvedev became the only player in the Open era to drop two Major finals from two sets up on Sunday (January 28), losing 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 3-6 to Jannik Sinner in the 2024 Australian Open final. Tennis fans subsequently poked fun at the Russian, who has now finished runner-up in Melbourne on three occasions.
Medvedev also came up short in the Melbourne title clashes in 2021 and 2022, losing to Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal respectively. The only male player who has dropped more finals in Melbourne without winning a title is Andy Murray – who lost five finals in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2016.
This statistic came to the attention of the tennis community on social media after the final on Sunday. Many fans ripped into Daniil Medvedev and Andy Murray’s lack of success Down Under. One fan even joked that a hypothetical Australian Open final between the two players would be left undecided.
“It’s a shame we (almost certainly) won’t get an Andy Murray vs Daniil Medvedev AO final. Somehow they’d both lose,” they wrote.
Another fan, meanwhile, came up with a rather hilarious write-up that detailed how their title clash in Melbourne would likely go down.
“5th set tiebreak, match point – the ball will ricochet off the frame of a racket and knock both of them out cold mid-rally, and then the ball will wedge itself conveniently on the top of the net,” they wrote.