SYDNEY, January 16. /TASS/. Russia’s top racquet Daniil Medvedev will not move on at the 2025 Australian Open tournament after losing on Thursday to Learner Tien of the United States 6-3; 7-6 (7-4); 6-7 (8-10); 1-6; 7-6 (10-7) in Round 2.
It took the unseeded Tien, who is currently 121st in the ATP (the Association of Tennis Porfessionals) Rankings, almost five hours to defeat the 5th-seeded Russian. He will now face Corentin Moutet from France in the next round.
Two days ago, Medvedev eked out a Round 1 win over Thailand’s wildcard Kasidit Samrej, who is currently 418th in the ATP (the Association of Tennis Professionals) Rankings, in a match that also went five sets: 6-2; 4-6; 3-6; 6-1; 6-2.
Medvedev, 28, is currently fifth in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Rankings. In 2022, the top Russian racquet spent sixteen weeks as the number one player in the world. He is the 2021 US Open Champion and has 20 ATP tournament titles under his belt. He won five of these 20 titles in 2023. Also, in 2021, he won the Davis Cup as well as the ATP Cup playing for the Russian national team.
The 2025 Australian Open tournament is being played on hard courts at Melbourne Park on January 12-26 and has a purse of $59.7 million in prize money up for grabs. The season’s first Grand Slam, this year marks the 113th edition of the tournament. Italy’s Jannik Sinner and Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka are the reigning Australian Open champions in men’s and women’s singles, respectively.
Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.
Following the IOC's recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022 to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations while also canceling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.
On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from taking part in the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.
However, the Women Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) allowed tennis players from Russia and Belarus to continue participating in WTA and ATP tournaments, but only under a neutral status.