Daniil Medvedev might have lost in the first round of the US Open, but he certainly caused a stir in Flushing Meadows. The former world No. 1 confronted the umpire and then played along with the booing crowd when there was a bizarre interruption during his match against Benjamin Bonzi.
When he ultimately lost, Medvedev destroyed a racket and sat on his bench looking dejected. He was fined just under £32k for unsportsmanlike conduct and racket abuse. The Russian is now trying to regroup and has since brought on a new coaching team. Ahead of his Shanghai Masters campaign, he candidly opened up on his US Open outburst and explained why he was so frustrated.
During the rollercoaster match, Bonzi had a match point on his serve in the third set. He missed his first serve and was given a second serve, but a photographer suddenly walked onto the court. Chair umpire Greg Allensworth called a let and announced that Bonzi would get his first serve back.
Medvedev erupted, marching to the chair and yelling at the umpire. The fans inside the stadium started jeering and booing, and the delay went on for more than six minutes before Bonzi finally got to serve.
But the Russian had a new lease of life. He broke back and won the next two sets to force a decider. Bonzi survived, winning 6-3 7-5 6-7 0-6 6-4, and Medvedev obliterated his racket before leaving the court.
The world No. 18 is now trying to learn from his mistakes. At the recent China Open, he told a supervisor that he was trying to be “good” after his US Open antics. And Medvedev has now been brutally honest about what sparked his eruption in New York a few weeks ago.
“It was just a little bit of desperation,” Medvedev said of his racket smash, speaking to the ATP.
“And at the same time I was like, ‘The fans are probably going to love it’. There was actually one racket left in the bag and I didn’t know it. I was for sure disappointed with the result, disappointed with the way I felt on the court, with the way I acted on the court.
“I wanted to let out the frustration, probably not on the court, but I was cramping so I couldn’t stand up. It was for sure an act of desperation and a sign I needed a new start.”
Medvedev did give himself a fresh start. He parted ways with Gilles Cervara, his coach of almost a decade, and is now working with Thomas Johansson and Rohan Goetzke.
The former US Open champion added: “It was not an easy decision. But at the same time, I’m 29 years old, almost 30 soon, and [I wanted] to try something new in my adult career.
“Because even when we started with Gilles, I was too young, so it was with my parents a bit. The academy where I was going was designing [my team]… To do it by myself was something nice because it was something new in my life.”
The new partnership is already paying dividends, as Medvedev reached the semi-finals of last week’s China Open, beating Alexander Zverev en route, before retiring against Learner Tien while suffering severe cramps.
Medvedev is now hoping to carry his form into the Shanghai Masters, where he is a former champion. The No. 16 seed faces qualifier Dalibor Svrcina in his opening match.