Daniil
Medvedev revealed that
Novak Djokovic invited him on his private jet during the
2017 Davis Cup when he was just starting his career and was ranked outside the
top 400. The Russian player has become one of 'Nole's' great rivals in the last
five years and reminisced about the noble gesture made by the 24-times Grand
Slam champion on their way to their first encounter.
Currently
ranked No. 3 in the world, Medvedev sailed through the third round, defeating
the 27th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, advancing
to the second week of the
Australian Open for the 5th time in his career. He is
set to face the surprise contender Nuno Borges (No. 69). Medvedev dreams of
reaching the final of the tournament for the third time in his career and knows
that, if achieved, Djokovic is the most likely rival to conquer.
Djokovic's
Gesture
In the
post-match press conference after an easy victory over Auger-Aliassime,
Medvedev discussed the always controversial Djokovic and revealed when he first
met him: “We were at practice, and Novak said, ‘ah, we play Davis Cup together
in a couple of days, are you going?’
I said
‘Yeah, I’m going’, to which Novak replied ‘When are you leaving?’, and I said
‘Saturday’. Novak said ‘You wanna come
with me [on my plane]’ and I’m a pretty shy person, so, at first, I said ‘no,
no’, I already had plane ticket with 1 stop and a 3 hour wait between flights.
“When the
practice with Novak finished, I was like ‘really Novak, I can come with you?’,
and he said ‘Yeah, of course’.”
“That’s
what some people don’t know about Novak, ok he can be tough on the court, just
like me, but when I met him the first time I was World #400, now I am #3, and I
was #1, and he always has treated me the same. I became more of a rival, but
the treatment off-court was the same.”
