Nola praised his opponent in the final after winning in Australia and joked: "We used to train together, but you don't call me anymore" • Medvedev: "Djokovic is a huge athlete, congratulations"
Djokovic.
Grand Slam 18
Photo:
GettyImages
Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open today (Sunday) and lifted the 18th Grand Slam title of his career.
The world number one defeated Daniel Medvedev (4) in a one-sided final by 5: 7, 2: 6, 2: 6 and completed a ninth win in Melbourne, more than anyone else.
"I want to say a few warm words to Danil,"
Djokovic
began
after the win.
"You're a great guy, a great personality. You know, we used to spend more time together, we used to train together in Monaco. You've not called me anymore in the last few years," he laughed.
"But it's nice to see you think good things about me. Thank you very much. I really like Daniel as a person, off the field he's great. Always very sociable, loves to go out. On the field he's definitely one of the toughest I'd ever faced. It's only a matter of time until you win In the Grand Slam title, that's for sure. If you do not mind waiting a few more years ... "Djokovic continued in a humorous atmosphere.
Earlier,
Medvedev
summed up his third career final without winning a Grand Slam title.
"I trained with Novak for the first time in Monaco when I was something like 500, 600 in the rankings. He was already ranked 1, right after he won Wimbledon. I thought to myself 'okay, he's not going to talk to me' because he was kind of a god to me."
The Russian added: "Because I was shy, I did not speak. He asked me all kinds of questions, talked to me like with a friend. I was very surprised. It has not changed since I was ranked 600 until I got to place 4. You are a huge athlete, a huge man. Congratulations."