Medvedev’s moment of madness
WIMBLEDON are investigating after Russian Daniil Medvedev opened his wallet and threw coins at an umpire’s chair after his five-set loss yesterday. World No 49 Medvedev, who beat fifth seed Stan Wawrinka in the first round, was unhappy with umpire Mariana Alves as he lost to Belgian qualifier Ruben Bemelmans on Court No 16. The 21-year-old was particularly frustrated in the fifth set and wanted Portuguese Alves to be replaced. His plea was denied. Medvedev was heard saying to a match supervisor on court: ‘Hello, yes, in my opinion, there is something wrong with Wimbledon, the referees… this is only my opinion. ‘In my opinion, she wants me to lose the match. There were five calls that she corrected against me, and him zero times.’ Medvedev later said he could not recall what he had said during the match, which he lost 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3 in two hours and 50 minutes. Two sets down, he fought back but after going 2-0 up in the fifth, Medvedev was broken twice and trailed 4-2. Having already had a warning, he was then given a point penalty after a series of complaints. The Belgian won a fifth game in succession to take a 5-2 lead then saw out the set. It was then
that, while collecting his gear, Medvedev found his wallet and threw money at the foot of the umpire’s chair. He said in his post-match press conference that he was not indicating Alves was biased or bought — despite his earlier comments to the All England Club supervisor, who he demanded be brought to the court. Medvedev later showed contrition. ‘In the heat of the moment, I did a bad thing,’ he said. ‘I apologise for this. ‘It was frustrating after the big win (in the last round). Maybe there were some bad calls. It can happen in sport. I was just disappointed and did a stupid thing. ‘I don’t actually remember what I said. It was very hot. I was just frustrated. I didn’t count how many over-rules there were and were they on my side or on his side. ‘Maybe in the match, during the match, I thought that it was a bit not in my favour. ‘Referees can make some mistakes. But me as a tennis player, I make some mistakes, too. ’ Told that it looked like he was telling Alves she was biased, Medvedev said: ‘It’s not the why I did it. It was stupid, but not like this. I was packing things and saw my wallet. I don’t even remember what the coins were. It was stupid.’ Asked if he was expecting action against him from the authorities, he said: ‘If there will be, that’s my fault.’ The maximum fine for unsportsmanlike conduct is $20,000 (£15,478), though he will collect £57,000 for reaching the second round. This is not the first time that the Russian has courted controversy. In April 2016 he was disqualified from the Savannah Challenger after he questioned the impartiality of the black umpire during a match against African American Donald Young. As of 6.30pm last night, Medvedev had not apologised to Alves in person but said he would do so if he happened to see her.