"I think he thinks it should be his" - Woodbridge says Medvedev believes he can win the Australian Open

Daniil Medvedev lifted his maiden Grand Slam trophy at the 2021 US Open, and his hardcourt prowess has led Todd Woodbridge to believe that the Russian is the favorite to capture the title at the 2022 Australian Open.

Medvedev has won 12 of his 13 career titles on hardcourts, and his collective win-loss record at the two hardcourt majors in Melbourne and New York currently stands at 33-9. Woodbridge believes the 25-year-old perfectly suits the surface thanks to his clean, flat ball-striking, height and movement.

"He likes the ball low, so that's not a problem, and at 6’6” it's hard to get it up high on him,” Woodbridge observed. “And on hard court, he gets that ball in the strike zone (so nicely) that he's just able to lean in and almost hit down on the ball into the court.”

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Furthermore, Woodbridge believes the World No.2 has improved in confidence over the last few years, as he recalled an incident that occurred when he found himself in an elevator with the Russian at the 2021 Australian Open.

"He was saying: ‘I'm playing so good, I made no unforced errors in my match today.’ And very rarely have I ever been with a tennis player who tells you that,” Woodbridge recalled.

“I've been around the greatest of players, and chatted to them since I've played, and ... I've seen people look the part and try to throw out this air of confidence and invincibility, but for me that's always a bit of a front. But with him, I didn't read it in the sense of him big-noting; I just see it as this inward confidence. And I liked that about him; there was excitement in the way he delivered it. Like, this is going to be great.

“A lot of players will get to be in great form like that, but be worried about losing. I don't think that's the case with him. He seems to believe that it's just a matter of time before all of these (great) things happen. Winning the US Open wasn't a surprise to him, and I don't think winning an Australian Open would be a surprise at all.

“I think he thinks it should be his.”