Medvedev found things hard in New York during his second round win
Daniil Medvedev lashed out at a group of fans returning to their seats during his second-round US Open victory over Christopher O’Connell.
The Russian No 3 seed saw off O’Connell 6-2, 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 in a hard-fought clash on Thursday night, but lost his cool with members of the crowd.
Medvedev appeared angered by a group of fans in particular, who were returning to their seat as he was shaping up to serve.
A riled Medvedev hit out: “Can you shut up? Are you stupid or what?”
His outburst unsurprisingly led to boos from the crowd with one of the fans on the receiving end of his tirade, blowing him a kiss in response
Medvedev’s frustrations appeared to be triggered by a failure to convert match points in the third set, double-faulting on one of his opportunities to wrap up the match.
After losing a third set tie-breaker, the 27-year-old appeared angry and moments prior to the start of the fourth set, he pushed away a cameraman looking to get an up-close shot of him.
His eventual victory was not enough to shake off his frustration which was still evidently apparent during an on-court interview where he claimed his battles with the crowd helped fire him up.
“It depends, sometimes yes. Sometimes no. You can’t often know how it’s going to go. It’s kind of like a lottery,” he said with a smile.
It’s not the first time the Russian has become embroiled in controversy at the US Open after becoming public enemy No.1 in a match with Feliciano Lopez in 2019.
On that occasion, Medvedev pulled a towel from a ball person’s hands earning a code violation.
He later threw his racket towards the chair umpire and was caught giving the middle finger by the side of his head, on the big screen.
In the first set of that match, Medvedev ripped a towel from a ball person’s hands, drawing a code violation, threw his racket in the direction of the chair umpire and was seen on the big screen flashing his middle finger by the side of his head.
