The Russian tennis player attacked the men’s tennis board with his usual frankness regarding a controversial topic
During the media day of the ATP Masters 1000 in Toronto, the 28-year-old Russian Daniil Medvedev addressed several issues with his usual sincerity and frankness.
The Russian could not avoid addressing a topic that has been the talk of the town in the last few hours: the qualification of his colleague Denis Shapovalov, due to an insult to a fan during a match in Washington. Medvedev, who has already had problems of this nature in the past, did not hesitate to give an answer that could be seen as a jab at the ATP board.
“I don’t think Denis should have been disqualified. From what you hear on TV, he deserved a warning and maybe a fine after the match, but that’s it, so I was really very surprised. I think the ATP is doing some good things and some not so good things at the moment, but I have the impression that they don’t know where they are going,” he explained.
The Russian compared tennis to two other sports: “They want to be like Formula 1 and football. But in this case you can’t ask players to stay calm like robots, while around them there is a circus and a show. Things need to be clearer for the players and the spectators.”
Medvedev is still looking for his first title in 2024. The Russian will try to break this fast in Montreal, where in 2021 he won the fourth of his 6 Masters 1000 in his collection. Back from the Paris Olympics, where he was eliminated by Felix Auger Aliassime, the former number one will be able to compete again on the surface on which he expresses himself best, hard courts.
Regarding the season on the North American hard-courts, the Russian said: “Often, when this moment of the season comes – in Canada – I feel like it doesn’t matter what happened before, because it’s usually the best part of the year for me. I’m pretty happy with my season, honestly. I’ve achieved some great results and had some nice wins. The thing I don’t like is that I haven’t won any titles, but I’m playing well in the big tournaments and I’ve only lost to exceptional players.”
