Daniil Medvedev feels pressure, motivation as No. 1

Daniil Medvedev, who will contest his first tournament as world number one at the Indian Wells ATP Masters, says he's matured since his loss to Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final. In the wake of his crushing loss to the Spanish star in Melbourne -- where Nadal rallied from two sets down to win a record 21st Grand Slam title -- Medvedev complained about "disrespectful" fans. But he said Wednesday at Indian Wells that those comments -- which came after he was fined US$12,000 for an outburst at the chair umpire in his semi-final win over Stefanos Tsitsipas -- were made in the heat of the disappointing moment.

"It made me mature, the Australian Open," the 26-year-old said. "I understood I had a lot to work on myself." Medvedev officially ascended to world number one on February 28 -- days after his rise was assured when Novak Djokovic fell in the quarter-finals at Dubai. Playing in the Mexico Open at Acapulco at the time, Medvedev was unable to celebrate the achievement with a title, stopped once again by Nadal in the championship match.

The two could meet again in the semi-finals at Indian Wells, where Djokovic is absent due to US government Covid-19 travel regulations. Djokovic, who is not vaccinated, didn't formally withdraw from the tournament until Wednesday, when women's first-round action was underway and the men's draw had already been made. The five-time Indian Wells champion was replaced in the draw by lucky loser Grigor Dimitrov.

Medvedev acknowledged that there was "a lot of pressure" in playing as the world's top-ranked player "but at the same time a lot of motivation," he said. While he'll have No. 1 beside his name, he won't have the Russian flag, after tennis authorities ruled that Russian and