Daniil, Behind The Mic: Medvedev teases potential post-retirement podcast at Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia—One could argue Daniil Medvedev has been releasing podcasts for years. They’re called press conferences.

The eminently quotable former world No. 1 has proven a master at the interview format throughout his career, but as many current and former players have more formally gotten into the podcast game, Medvedev was uncertain exactly where he’d fit in that landscape.

“You know what, like, five years after I finished my career, [you] never know,” Medvedev said when I asked if he thought of getting behind the mic more often.  “But the probably, like, first five years would just enjoy time with the family, do some things I love, and podcast is probably not one of them yet.”

Able to talk at length on most topics, Medvedev confessed he doesn’t listen to most tennis podcasts beyond what is offered in the clips served to social media, but promised he wouldn’t be a proverbial bitter jury member if ever he started critiquing tennis after retiring.

“I respect Roddick a lot,” he said of Andy Roddick’s Served podcast, “because I feel like he never goes at the players. “So. he's very, like, respectful and tries to just, as you say, talk about tennis, super respectful.

“Then there are some guys, and it's normal, because once you get maybe not used to doing interviews anymore, and some of them do, like, one per year and [they] just slam the whole tour,” he added with a laugh. “That's what I'm going to be very careful with, because that's why I say maybe I would not want to talk about tennis, because I don't want to be this guy that finishes his career and then goes, like, ‘Yeah, these guys, they don't know how to play anymore. When I was there, it was Alcaraz, Sinner, and these guys now are just amateurs!’

“So, I hope I'm not going to be like this. If I am, I'm not going to give interviews.”

Still very much in practice, the Brisbane International champion monologued about his thought process in solving France’s Quentin Halys from a set down at the Australian Open on Wednesday.

“Okay, you don't want to lose the first set, especially I was in the tiebreak serving for it,” he explained. “And I made the serve, which was not great, not bad, and he slammed it on the line, the return, and then slammed one more forehand.

“So, I was more thinking about this. I was, like, ‘Could I maybe serve a little bit better this one?’ Then I was like, ‘Damn, why did it drop on the line and not a bit out?’ Then step by step, I went out to change the clothes. This usually helps a bit to kind of refocus, to, ‘How do I win this match now?’ Okay, it's one set love to him. This we cannot change.

“Then the first game was pretty so-so from my side, and I got broken. But, still, need to try to win the match. I'm happy that I managed to turn this around and break him many times actually after in the match.”

Medvedev ultimately advanced, 6-7 (9), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, not only continuing his unbeaten start to 2026 but also securing his best Grand Slam result since the 2024 US Open—and likely guaranteeing at least one more press conference (or, at least one more episode of The Untitled Daniil Medvedev Podcast).