“He said what makes this place so special to him is that he doesn’t have as much attention on him. There aren’t as many fans, there aren’t big crowds, so all he needs to focus on is going out and surfing so he feels at home,” said WSL commentator and former pro Jessé Mendes, a friend of Medina’s about the three-time world champion.

This is what the most successful Brazilian surfer on the world tour shared with Mendes while going surfing yesterday.

And this is one of the secrets, according to commentators, why Medina is one of the best performing surfers at Teahupoo.

From 2014 onwards he won twice, placed second on four occasions and third on one occasion.

He is the surfer with the best overall performance at Teahupoo in that time period.