Daniil Medvedev
had a fleeting time at the
Monte Carlo Masters 1000
. He beat
Gael Monfils
in his debut , after being bye in the first round as fourth seed, but could not get past the round of 16, in which he lost 6-3 and 7-5 to
Karen Khachanov
. A victory and a defeat in a tournament in which the Russian did his thing again. In the duel against his compatriot, a controversial ruling angered him, he swung a racket and ended up arguing with the umpire and the ATP supervisor. And, of course, booed by the public.
The former number one's explosion began when Khachanov broke his serve in the final stretch of the second set, leaving him 6-3 and 6-5 up, with the chance to serve for the match. Medvedev, dazed, threw the racket as if it were a
Frisbee
against the canvas at the back of the court and headed towards his chair.
Upon arriving, he realized that the doctors were approaching him and began to shout to
Carlos Bernardes
, the match umpire.
"Did I ask for physio!? Did I ask for physio!?"
, he exclaimed.
"WHO WILL TAKE ACTION!" 🤬
Daniil Medvedev rants at the umpire again! pic.twitter.com/Bbv9xT3AvJ
— Sky Sports Tennis (@SkySportsTennis) April 11, 2024
The Brazilian judge, one of the most respected on the circuit and who will retire at the end of this season, answered calmly:
"I asked you to come because of the bleeding
," he said, pointing to the cut on Medvedev's hand.
"Carlos, did I ask for the physio?!!!",
the Russian complained again. And he then got into a heated argument with
Cedric Mourier
, the ATP supervisor, who approached just as the doctors were leaving the court.
"Cedric, go look at the mark. The mark is outside. They no longer know how to referee.
The mark is outside! Who is going to take action?! Yesterday, the ball was bad and they called it good.
Who is going to take action? This ball is also out there,"
he exclaimed, clearly angry with some recent ruling.
"
Who's going to take responsibility for the mistake?!
It's not my responsibility to referee the games. It's this guy with glasses. He doesn't need glasses, because he doesn't see anything. He shouldn't be a judge. It's right in front of him. It's a slow ball, 15-30 and 5-5. He's a bad judge. He should be outside the circuit. It's brick dust, it's not a hard court. He's outside," he continued, referring to a ball by Khachanov that, in his opinion, It had been bad, but it was validated by the judges to give the winner of the match two break chances.
Mourier tried to calm him down, but his attempts were unsuccessful.
"Answer me. The camera is watching. Who is going to take responsibility. You are the supervisor.
Who is going to take responsibility after the game? Because the ball was bad, you can check it. I just lost a game because of this
. "It was 15-30, it became 15-40. Carlos called the physio when I didn't ask for it. When I didn't need it. And he (pointing to the linesman) doesn't see the ball outside
," Medvedev continued.
And when the supervisor had already left, he closed:
"You are circumventing the rule.
Open your damn eyes. Open them
. Sit there and do something. Open your eyes now. It's bad.
"
Bernardes then announced that Medvedev had been penalized one point for his actions, so Khachanov started the next game 15-0 up and only needed to win three more points to seal the victory.
Medvedev-Lahyani discussion on the changeover 🔊⤵️#RolexMonteCarloMasters pic.twitter.com/SEqL50tLYr
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) April 10, 2024
In the midst of his angry protest, Medvedev recalled a similar situation that he had experienced the previous day, in his match against Monfils, when
Mohamed Lahyani
, the umpire of that match, changed a ruling by a linesman and called a ball from the Frenchman good. that it had been bad.
"It was outside, it was outside
," claimed the Russian at half-time.
"I saw her inside. Maybe I was wrong. If I was wrong, I'm going to apologize
," answered the Swedish judge, while Daniil vented his anger with the top of his chair.
"
How are you going to apologize?! I lost the damn game!
This is a damn sport. I don't know how... Oh my God! This is ridiculous, they don't see anything
," he continued.
After sealing the victory, now calmer, the Russian continued the controversy and wrote on the camera lens of the official broadcast:
"In or out?"
Before the start of the tournament, in an interview with his country's M-Sport media, Medvedev had assured:
"I am a completely different person on the court and off it. Since I don't have a competitive aspect in my personal life, I live longer." "I calmly concentrate on myself. On the court, this concentration goes much further.
Maybe my problem is that there I can't concentrate only on myself. And that's why I become a completely different person
.
"
His time in Monte Carlo showed that this reading is not wrong. And while when he is not playing he was seen relaxed and smiling; On the court that explosive Daniil appeared again, who cannot control his anger.
Tsitsipas' long-suffering victory
Stefanos Tsitsipas
suffered a lot to get into the Monte Carlo quarterfinals. The Greek survived an unexpected comeback from the German
Alexander Zverev
, who overcame a 0-5 and match point deficit in the second set, and won 7-5 and 7-6 (7-3) in just over two hours of game.
8 consecutive clay Masters 1000 QFs 🤯@steftsitsipas survies a late Zverev fightback to win 7-5 7-6 🥵#RolexMonteCarloMasters pic.twitter.com/6TuLhkBa3H
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 11, 2024
Tsitsipas, 12th seed, had the game under control and seemed like he would close the match without problems. However, Zverev, fifth seed, did not give up. In the sixth game,
he prevented the Greek from breaking serve and closing the second set at zero
; He then won five consecutive games (including two breaks) and ended up forcing a
tie break
. And only in the tiebreaker, Stefanos was able to play again as he did at the beginning and took the victory.
“It was the adventure of my life
,” Tsitsipas joked after the meeting. “It's something I don't deal with every day and the dynamic changed dramatically at a few points. It went in one direction and then completely in the opposite direction. I don't know, I'm trying to find out what happened. It was 5-0 in the second set, however, things went pretty well in the tie break especially when I got the mini-break."
His next rival will be Khachanov, Medvedev's executioner.
In other round of 16 matches of the day, the Norwegian
Casper Ruud
, eighth seed, beat the Polish
Hubert Hurkacz
, tenth, 6-4, 6-2, and the Frenchman
Ugo Humbert
, 14th, beat him 5-7, 6 -3 and 6-1 to the Italian
Lorenzo Sonego
, lucky loser. The two winners will meet in the quarterfinals.