“That Was a Big Mistake”: Daniil Medvedev on Being Aggressive to Umpire During Australian Open 2022 Semifinals

Daniil Medvedev reaches the Australian Open 2022 finals. He beat 4th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in four sets to reach the top 2. The Russian will eye his 2nd grand slam title, facing the 2009 champion, Rafael Nadal in the finals. 

Medvedev seemed happy with his performance. However, it was his anger that took the limelight. Medvedev received a warning for visible obscenity from the chair umpire for hitting his racquet on his elbow. Being irritated by the call, Medvedev lashed back at the umpire, bringing up Tsitsipas’s father’s on-court coaching in the discussion.

However, he regretted his actions and apologized to the umpire post-match. While talking to Jim Courier at the on-court interview, Medvedev spoke about bad emotions affect his play and why it is not good for his game. 

Daniil Medvedev opens up on his tussle with the umpire

Being irritated by Tsitsipas’s father’s on-court coaching, Medvedev asked the umpire to take action against it. Looking into the matter, the umpire continued the match. Post the incident, The chair umpire gave Medvedev a warning for a visible obscenity. Already frustrated, Medvedev turned aggressive and hit out at the umpire asking him why is he not taking action against Tsitsipas. 

Also read- Stefanos Tsitsipas Receives Coaching Warning as Match Referee Sits Besides His Father at Australian Open 2022

Regretting his action, he opened up to Jim Courier during the on-court interview. He said, “To be honest I don’t think bad emotions help me too much. Many times I lose the match because of this. You lose concentration. You lose too much energy. As soon as I’ve done it, I thought, ‘That was a big mistake.’

This was Medvedev’s 9th meeting with Tsitsipas. With this win in place, Daniil now leads the h2h comparison 7-2. 

Medvedev stuns Tsitsipas to book a spot in the finals of Australian Open 2022

Being a finalist at last year’s Australian Open, Medvedev entered the semi-finals with the aim to recreate his last year’s run.

Both players started off the set giving neck-to-neck competition to each other. Leaving no room for error, the two held all the serves, taking the set to a tie-breaker. Tsitsipas started the tiebreaker on a winning note. However, it was Medvedev who changed the direction of the tiebreaker, taking the set to his side. 

The next set started with Tsitsipas striking early. He broke the Russian in his first service game, taking a 2-0 lead. Medvedev broke back Tsitipas’s serve in the mid-set. In spite of that, it was Tsitsipas who took away the set by breaking Medvedev for the second time late in the set. 

The third set saw both the players going toe to toe, till Medvedev broke Tsitsipas’s serve late in the set. He went on to win the third set. Two sets up, winning the 4th set seemed like a cakewalk for Medvedev. Breaking Tsitsipas twice, Medvedev went on to win the set and finally won the match 7-6,6-4,4-6,6-1. 

Watch this story- “What Would Novak Do?”: Daniil Medvedev Channeled Novak Djokovic to Advance His Way to Semi-Finals at the Australian Open 2022