Medvedev overcomes his fears and delivers a good game (and manners) against De Minaur

Daniil Medvedev suffered a mental breakdown in his first match of the ATP Finals. The Russian player seemed to have given up and started playing with his racket, booed by the crowds in Turin.

He later admitted he was wishing for the season to be over, feeling "zero pleasure" of being on the court. But yesterday, Tuesday November 13, he regained his confident, and clearly overpowered rival Alex de Minaur, 6-2, 6-4.

"After the last match, I was too tired mentally to fight the way I usually do. I went into the match just trying to hit some shots, even thinking about next year. What is going to work well today and what's not. It worked well, so I'm okay with it."

"I went into this match blocking the noise, even from myself" said Medvedev. "I really didn't care what was happening on the court, I just tried to play, and it was a good feeling. Sometimes it's good to block it, and I did that well today."

Medvedev already won the "season finale" in 2020, and now has good chances of finishing second in his group (behind Sinner) and move to the next phase of the Finals. Counting on a likely defeat from Medvédev against Sinner tomorrow Thursday, it would be up to De Minaur, who has lost both of his games: if he wins Fritz tomorrow, Medvédev would still have some chances.