Australian Open 2024: Daniil Medvedev details new style as he chases Aus Open dream

A smashing in southern France changed it all for Daniil Medvedev, who looks in red-hot form as he attempts to finally cash in on his great success at Melbourne Park.

It was the smashing in southern France that changed tennis around the world.

Local hero Jo-Wilfred Tsonga – who has served as fast as 237km/hr – mauled Daniil Medvedev 6-2 7-5 in Montpellier.

Medvedev did not manufacture a single break point against Tsonga’s thunderbolts.

So he took several steps back to move forward in his career.

The baseline bandit now stands in the shadows – about 6m deeper than the court – to return serve and runs to the ball.

The radical positioning has forced the reconfiguration of courts in Cincinnati and elsewhere around the world to simply make room for Medvedev.

The unorthodox defensive machine is the sport’s marathon man as he moves around the court more than anyone else.

Daniil Medvedev has shed the label of villain. (Photo by David GRAY / AFP)

On Monday he moved into the quarter-finals at the Australian Open for the third time from eight attempts. The previous two he has gone on to make the final.

The last of those – in 2022 – he did so as the bad boy. That hothead has cooled, but his form is as fiery as ever.

Medvedev is defying history in his latest run at Melbourne Park.

On Friday morning he got to bed at 7am (sleeping until midday) after a 3.40am finish in the second round.

Usually those draining all-nighters precede defeat.

But Medvedev has rolled Felix Auger-Aliassime and Nuno Borges since and will start a hot favourite against Hubert Hurkacz on Wednesday.

Hurkacz leads Medvedev 3-2 … but Medvedev has him 2-1 on hardcourts.

Medvedev claimed his energy levels had been restored before his fourth-round win.

But after beating Borges he signed “More sleep” on the TV camera.

For Borges it was a booming ride. He had never won back-to-mack matches at Tour-level (outside of Davis Cup) before peeling off three-straight victories at Melbourne Park, including inflicting the first defeat of 2024 on No. 13 seed Grigor Dimitrov.

Borges was bidding to become the first Portuguese person to reach the quarter-finals (singles) at a slam.

Still, he will fly home having become the first Portuguese player to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open, and the second Portuguese player to reach the round 16 at a grand slam, after Joao Sousa (2018 US Open and 2019 Wimbledon).

Medvedev wrote a cheeky message on camera after his win. (Photo by David GRAY / AFP)

As for Medvedev? He is now 25-7 at Melbourne Park, which is his best winning percentage – although the two-time runner-up here (2021-22) has won a US Open crown (2021).

In 2022 Medvedev became the first player other than the ‘Big Four’ (Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Murray) to hold the No. 1 ranking since Andy Roddick in 2004.

That breakthrough has not yet brought the Russian a rush of trophies.

Maybe a cool head – which a mature Medvedev clearly showed in the fourth set on Monday – will help create success in the second week.

The 6-3 7-6 5-7 6-1 win came after coughing up match points in the third set, as well as the final five games.

But in the fourth there was no fussing about. Medvedev won his first 12 consecutive points on serve in a set that only cost him 24 minutes.

With two solid nights of sleep the manic runner should be motoring at top gear again by Wednesday.