The Russian
Daniil Medvedev
(3) and the German
Alexander Zverev
(6) will meet for the nineteenth time on the professional circuit, but the first in a Grand Slam.
This Friday's semifinal (
5:30 Argentine time, with ESPN television
) hides a
hot antecedent
that ended with a
strong accusation by the German
, who is down in the history and months later regretted what he said.
We don't have to go back too long, because the episode occurred at the 1,000th Masters in Monte Carlo, on the clay court tour prior to Roland Garros.
In the round of 16, Medvedev went to the bathroom without permission when he was trailing on the scoreboard.
🤫🤷‍♂️#RolexMonteCarloMasters pic.twitter.com/TNiTZjAInd
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 13, 2023
Furthermore, as a result of frustration, the Russian tennis player removed one of the posts that hold the net and responded to the public in the stands by making the gesture of silence.
Medvedev ended up winning the match and Zverev, in a press conference, pointed directly against his attitude:
"He is one of the dirtiest tennis players in the world. I try to take sportsmanship and fair play very seriously, he doesn't. He took a break to go to the bathroom when it couldn't be done. I am very disappointed in him as an athlete
. "
The Russian was not far behind and responded a day later:
"What happened yesterday, the thing with the stick? Did that make you say what you said? And the thing about the toilet, well, I wanted to pee. What do you want me to do? I'm going "I go to the bathroom, I lose the next two games, he is serving to win the game and says I'm going to the bathroom so he can play worse. Sascha lives in his own world
. "
Months later, cold, Zverev lowered the decibels.
"I shouldn't have said those things at a press conference, it was a mistake on my part. I take fair play very seriously and what he did bothered me, but I should have handled it face to face with him," he confided
.
Photo: AP / Louise Delmotte
The Russian has a favorable head-to-head score of 11-7 and has recently been infallible against the German, after winning
five of the six meetings they had during 2023
.
"He's been kicking my butt a lot over the last year. A lot of matches were extremely close, obviously. You know, he was very confident last year, he played the best tennis of his life,"
Zverev acknowledged.
Both tennis players will need a great serve and risk more than necessary to avoid putting a strain on a physique damaged by the two five-set matches that each had in the previous rounds.
Photo: Martin KEEP / AFP
The Muscovite scored the victory in the final round against the Finnish
Emil Ruusuvuori
and the Polish
Hubert Hurkacz
(9), while the German did the same against the Slovakian qualifier
Lukas Klein
and the British
Cameron Norrie
(19), before remove the Spanish
Carlos Alcaraz
from the race .
Medvedev could get the ticket for what would be his third final at the Australian Open and Zverev could become the third German, behind his compatriots Boris Becker and Rainer Schuettler, to reach the final in Melbourne.