Daniil Medvedev has had a major rise up the rankings but it hasn't always been just that when he claimed his first ATP Tour title at the 2018 Sydney International.

Medvedev spoke about how a change of mentality meant that beforehand he would have thrown it away but it shifted differently. He also spoke about how this has gone into how professional he is now with the sport.

“Probably two years [before that] I would have just said, ‘I don’t want this anymore’, and I would lose 7-5,” Medvedev said during an interview on ATP Uncovered. “But I managed to win it, my first title.”

“Every one-on-one sport is all about mentality. Every tournament that you play, to win it you need to win five matches against five real guys. All of them want to win this tournament. You need to be stronger than them,” Medvedev continued.

“You need to break each of these guys mentally every match and that’s really tough, especially in [the] semi-finals and finals where you play top players and they try to break you and they are better at it. It’s only you against your opponent.”

“The past two-and-a-half years I tried to be really professional in everything I do. I dedicated my life to tennis, the small details."

“I want to be better, I want to play better. I want to win more matches than I win even now. That’s my goal and that’s what I’m working for.”