Meltdown reveals motivation problem for Daniil Medvedev

The world No 4 declared that he has felt "zero pleasure of being on the court" for "a long time" as he reiterated his frustration with the tennis balls being used on the ATP Tour.

Medvedev was beaten 6-4, 6-3 by Fritz in his opening round-robin match at the 2024 edition of the ATP Finals.

The Russian made a solid start, but he collapsed to lose the first set when serving at 4-5 by hitting three successive double faults.

This led Medvedev to destroy his racket, and his emotions boiled over again when a mishit Fritz forehand saw him lose his serve to fall 2-4 behind in the second set.

The 28-year-old was handed a point penalty for hurling his racket and damaging a courtside microphone and he continued to throw his racket around after losing points.

Before Fritz served at 4-2, 40-0, Medvedev held the racket by the head and upside down when waiting to return.

"Every practice is a struggle," he admitted to the press after.

"Every match is a struggle. I was holding for a long time. Now I feel zero pleasure of being on the court. So no surprise at all about the match today."

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