Daniil Medvedev struggled to control his rage at the Monte Carlo Masters.
Daniil Medvedev has admitted that he ‘went crazy’ when he screamed at the umpire during his match against Gael Monfils at the Monte Carlo Masters. The Russian was left furious when the chair umpire admitted the linesman had made an error in a game that saw Medvedev broken from a 30-0 lead.
There was another mistake on the very next point, with a shot from Monfils being called in when replays showed it landed beyond the baseline. Medvedev stayed quiet for the rest of the game but snapped at the umpire during the changeover, screaming: “It’s a freaking joke. It’s out, how did I lose the game when it’s out? It’s out, it’s out!”
Medvedev was also heard swearing under his breath, with microphones picking up the 28-year-old saying: “F***ing s***.” He was later accused of ‘crossing the line’ by Sky Sports commentator Jonathan Overend, who suggested that he was lucky to avoid being punished due to his outburst.
Speaking in his post-match press conference after beating Monfils in straight sets, Medvedev described the incident as ‘crazy’ but insisted that he was over it after eventually claiming victory.
“When he comes in and I see his edit, I’m like, he’s literally going to say it’s in when it’s out,” said Medvedev. “I told him: ‘Okay, what do we do if it’s in? Because I know it’s out. What do we do after the match if I lose this game, which I lost, because it would be 40-0 and not 30-15’.
“Then I was like: ‘Okay, calm down, Daniil. Let’s go for next point, let’s go for next games’. What happens next if the ball is even more out and the line umpire doesn’t say anything? The ball is very slow. He’s right there. I have no idea how it’s possible that he doesn’t say out.
“I go crazy. I lose two games because I go crazy. I calm down. I win the match, so I’m happy. That’s my part of the story, I guess.”
Asked what he will do to ensure he keeps a cooler head in future, Medvedev replied: “I’m going to get crazy sometimes on court, whether it’s myself, my team, crowd, umpire, I’m going to go crazy sometimes. I’m trying to work that I go crazy less and it affects my game less.
“I’m happy. You know, maybe other matches I lose because of this, but this exact match, already at 3-1, I managed to be more calm and I had 30-0, and he hit a let and he won the game and I get crazy again.
“Actually, I managed to calm myself down again, saying to myself I don’t want to lose the match because of what happened now because of me getting crazy. I want to continue playing the way I should play. I want to continue to try to win and I managed to do it.
“I’m pretty happy sometimes. Sometimes if you don’t control the crazy in the moment you have to control the crazy after the moment, and I didn’t control it best, but I managed to do it much better than sometimes before in my career. That’s why I managed to win the match.”
