Daniil Medvedev has spoken out after suffering a shocking defeat to world number one Rafael Nadal at the ATP Finals.
Russian star Medvedev, who lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in his opening group match in London, took the opening set on Wednesday afternoon before Nadal levelled the match at 1-1.
Debutant Medvedev went 5-1 up in the decider but failed to serve out for the match twice as Nadal mounted a stunning comeback to win in a tiebreak.
Reacting to the painful defeat, Medvedev said: ‘I just need to close out matches like that. I probably need to continue working on that [the mental side of the game].
‘Hopefully I’m not going to have many more matches like this in my career, but we never know. I’m going to try my best to not have them.’
Medvedev failed to convert a match point in the final set and added: ‘To be honest with you, I only felt it was over after he won. I still tried to win, even after letting it go from 5-1.
From 1-5 & match point down in the deciding set…@RafaelNadal produced a simply spectacular comeback.
?: @TennisTV | #NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/sCH1qo5zIa
— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 13, 2019
‘After the match point, I was like, okay, I cannot go back. As I say, hopefully I’m not going to have moments like this, but that’s tennis.
‘Rafa fighted his best, because he could just say, okay, it’s over at 5-1 and just give me the point, but we all know Rafa is not about this.’
Medvedev faces defending champion Alexander Zverev in his final group game of the 2019 ATP Finals on Friday.
