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via Reuters

via Reuters

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  Debate

Debate

Did Medvedev really deserve to escape disqualification, or was it a biased call?

Riding high on expectations after an amazing women’s semifinal, tennis fans in the stands would have anticipated a more enthralling and consuming semifinal match. Rightly so, as the defending champion,  Carlos Alcaraz clashed with Daniil Medvedev in the first round. However, when the Russian takes the court, he certainly delivers unexpected results, be it with the racquet or in the court discussions. And at the beginning of the semifinals, he marked the grass slam with another one of his controversial streaks.

Medvedev had a terrific start, as he dominated the first set from the get-go against the French Open winner, Alcaraz. However, this smooth rhythm was soon broken during the 9th game of the 1st set, as Alcaraz was on his way to reduce the gap between them.

With a score of 40-30 in the Spaniards’ favor, in trying to deny him another game, Medvedev seemed harsh with the umpire, as she called the return, “not up”. As a result, the supervisor was called to settle the dispute, though it wasn’t clear what was said during the muted conversation. Except for the ending when the supervisor made everyone aware that the Russian ‘gets away with ‘just’ an unsportsmanlike conduct warning’.

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Bastien Fachan made tennis fans aware of Medvedev avoiding a shocking disqualification and another controversy being added to his already lengthy streak. He tweeted, “Not sure what Medvedev said/did, but he might have just eluded a shock default here… Supervisor called – Medvedev gets away with ‘just’ an unsportsmanlike conduct warning.”

However, after such a high-intensity altercation between Medvedev, the umpire (Eva Asderaki), and the Supervisor, everyone is curious to know what was the whole saga about. And tennis fans may have some inkling as they share their inputs about the same!

Speculations run high as Tennis fans make ‘F**k y*u” guess for Daniil Medvedev controversy

What’s your perspective on:

Did Medvedev really deserve to escape disqualification, or was it a biased call?

Have an interesting take?

From smashing racquets to sitting down in protest, earning code violations instead of points, Medvedev is certainly a handful when he wants to be. The starting point of the saga was the last point of the ninth game. When Medved returned the ball from the net back into Alcaraz’s side, he must have anticipated it to earn him one more point. However, the umpire called the point for Alcaraz. And her response drew uncalled action from the Russian. As this tennis fan confirmed, “Medvedev got a warning for unsportsmanlike behavior for something he said to the umpire after she called a ‘not up’. She also discussed it with the tournament supervisor.” 

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And this fan had backing from the tennis journalist, José Morgado. As he reiterated, the same point in addition to the fact that Medvedev was harsh. He said, “Eva Asderaki calling the Supervisor. Medvedev told something to her after that not-up call. It probably was serious. Gets an unsportsmanlike conduct warning…” 

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This tennis fan thinks that Medvedev used improper language toward the umpire after he was unable to convert the point. The fan tweeted, “Apparently Danill said ‘F*** you’ three times to the umpire…” If this is true, it won’t be the first time that Medvedev resorted to this. Back in 2023, during Rolex Paris Master, Medvedev was accused of showing the finger to the crowd, after receiving “boos”. Though he denied this later, many fans would certainly draw parallels with the same!

To further prove that the cause of all the trouble was Medvedev’s unwanted use of words on the court, this tennis fan captured the snippet to prove his point. As he captioned, “Medvedev saying “f*** you” to the umpire.” Hence it led to Supervisor intervention and being granted and unsportsmanlike conduct warning at Prim and Proper Wimbledon.

Though left with a warning, Medvedev went on to capture the first set against the defending champion. Before the latter came back to even the score by claiming 2nd set. Could Medvedev cause an upset here, after upsetting the crowd with this controversy?