Last year’s runner-up and three-time AO finalist, Daniil Medvedev has perhaps gone under the radar so far at AO 2025.
As far as intriguing pre-tournament storylines go, there were plenty to go round.
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Novak Djokovic, coached by Andy Murray, came into the tournament hunting his record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title – victory for the Serbian would also bring up his 100th ATP Tour-level trophy.
Jannik Sinner is out to become just the fifth player in the Open era to win three successive hard-court Grand Slam crowns, after John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Roger Federer and Djokovic.
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A triumph for Carlos Alcaraz, meanwhile, would make the Spaniard the youngest man to win the career slam.
But forget Medvedev at your peril.
The 28-year-old was one set away from glory against Sinner in 2024, but surrendered his lead in a remarkable collapse.
It was a similar story two years earlier, when Rafael Nadal fought back to win 2-6 6-7(5) 6-4 6-4 7-5. At least in the 2021 final, there was no loss of a lead, as Medvedev lost in straight sets to Djokovic.
Despite that heartbreak, Medvedev’s AO record is exceptional.
Even so, he nearly found himself the centre of attention for the wrong reasons at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday. After taking the first set, he seemed well on course to claim a routine win over world No.418 Kasidit Samrej.
Instead, Samrej became the first Thai player to win a set against a top-five opponent since Paradorn Srichaphan against Federer in 2006. And then he won another.
Before he knew it, Medvedev was having to fight back from 2-1 down in order to avoid a monumental shock.
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Yet after losing his composure, and even smashing his racquet into the net at one point, Medvedev finally rediscovered his groove to prevail 6-2 4-6 3-6 6-1 6-2.
The crowd had been sensing an upset, but Medvedev finished with a flourish to tee up a second-round tie with Learner Tien.
He might have done it the hard way, but that was Medvedev’s 28th match win at AO.
Since his debut at the event in 2017, only Djokovic (38) and Nadal (32) have won more AO men’s singles matches.
Medvedev is the third player to reach the second round at the tournament across each of the last eight seasons, along with Alexander Zverev and Karen Khachanov.
What is even more impressive is that, considering all active male players, only six have won more AO matches than Medvedev – Djokovic (95), Stan Wawrinka (43), Marin Cilic (35), Gael Monfils (35), Milos Raonic (34) and Grigor Dimitrov (33). That is despite Medvedev only making his tournament debut eight years ago.
However, the youngest of those, Dimitrov, is 33, so Medvedev has time firmly on his side.
The US Open (83% – 33-7) is the only Grand Slam at which Medvedev can boast a better win percentage than he has managed at AO (77.8% – 28-8). His one major title came at Flushing Meadows in 2021, and hard courts are where he is most at home.
Medvedev’s victory over Samrej brought up his 15th straight Grand Slam first-round win on the surface – he last suffered an opening-match defeat at AO or the US Open in 2017, when he lost to Denis Shapovalov in New York.
With a win ratio of 80.2% (61-76), Medvedev is one of only three active male players to hold a win ratio of at least 80% at the hard-court Grand Slams, along with Djokovic (88.9% – 185-208) and Carlos Alcaraz (80.6% – 25-31).
He is also accustomed to going the distance at AO. In Tuesday’s victory, he became the first player since Alexei Popyrin (five in a row between 2021 and 2023) to be involved in at least four consecutive five-set matches at the event.
Indeed, since the start of the 2023 season, Medvedev is 67-1 in Tour-level matches on the surface after claiming the first set, with his only defeat coming in last year’s AO final (excluding team events).
Among active male players, only Djokovic (37) has taken part in more Grand Slam finals than Medvedev’s tally of five.
Medvedev has his moments of fury, but also has moments of magic – those contrasting emotions were on show in the first round – but he must be respected as one of AO 2025’s big contenders.