While addressing his monthly radio program 'Mann ki Baat', Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday talked about Russia's Daniil Medvedev, so let's look back at what really happened at the US Open final and why the tennis star made it to the PM's address.
In his address, Modi lauded Medvedev's simplicity and maturity and said: "I hope you are aware that I am just as common a person like everyone else. Being an ordinary citizen, whatever affects you has the same effect on me as well. Hence, I too heard the speech and watched the tennis match between Nadal and Medvedev. Sheer simplicity and maturity displayed by Medvedev touched everyone."
The 23-year-old had lost the finals of US Open to Spain's tennis star, Rafael Nadal. The Spaniard defeated Medvedev 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, 4-6 to win his 19th Grand Slam title.
The Russian gave Nadal a tough fight on the court and despite losing the match, he garnered plenty of admirers along the way. After the match he had said that he will always remember it for the intensity of tennis that was displayed by both stars.
"I definitely will remember tonight. I am sure even talking about Rafa's 19 Grand Slams, I'm sure he remembers his first final, even though he won it and I lost it. I mean, was an amazing match. It's an amazing story. All this summer is amazing for me. I will remember every moment of it. I have a really good memory if we talk about tennis. I'll definitely remember it even when I'm, like, 70 years old," US Open's official website had quoted Medvedev as saying.
In recent times, many people are not seen acknowledging their opponents' skills, but Medvedev showed that he is a true sportsman as he went on to applaud Nadal by saying 'it is very tough to play against you'.
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"The way you are playing is a big joke. It is very tough to play against you," Medvedev had said.
Both Medvedev and Nadal share a great camaraderie and the Russian spilled the beans as he revealed that both players called each other 'amazing' after the match.
"Yeah, I don't remember everything. Well, I congratulated him. He said congrats to me for my week, that I'm an amazing player. I basically said he's also an amazing player. Then I said what I think is they have a great contest between three of them, and I wished him luck to be one of the three, to be better, yeah. Because I do think they have a great contest, and it's fun to watch," Medvedev had said.
In his address, Modi also praised the humility of Grand Slam champion.
After winning his 19th Grand Slam title, Nadal was seen answering questions with humility and said that he never competes for the world number one tag.
"I don't compete for it. I just do my way. If I am able to be No. 1 doing my way, great. But I always say the same: today is not my main goal. Of course, is great to be in that fight. But for me personally, is not really a fight. I just try to be competitive in the weeks that I need to compete, or the weeks that I want to compete. With my age and with my goals, I cannot lose energy or time to follow number one. I need to think about my career in a different way," Nadal had said.