Daniil Medvedev lost his temper again. © APA/afp / MARTIN KEEP

Next outburst: Medvedev's undignified farewell

Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedev has said goodbye to the Australian Open as a tennis bully.

17 January 2025

From: dpa/dl

Just like in his opening match, the world number five was unable to control his nerves in the 3:6, 6:7 (4:7), 7:6 (10:8), 6:1, 6:7 (7:10) defeat against the 19-year-old US qualifier Learner Tien. He had several outbursts.

In the second set, Medvedev, out of frustration after losing his serve, hurled his racket flat into the cushion with full force. The crowd booed and whistled for this and he also received a warning from the referee John Blom.

Ball girl has to set up camera again

Later, he also got into an argument with the referee and once again took out his frustration on a camera. With a light kick, he caused the camera on the ground to fall over, and a ball girl put it back up.

In the first match against world number 418 Kasidit Samrej from Thailand, the 2021 US Open winner hit the middle of the net five times with his racket, where the small camera was located. "I have to say that the camera is very, very strong. The racket didn't survive the damage, but the camera did," Medvedev said afterwards.

Opponent Tien writes history

Medvedev's frustration was also so great because his second-round opponent Tien was so impressive in the match that only ended at 3.00 a.m. local time. At 121 years and 19 days, the world number 55 is the second youngest US player to ever reach the third round of the Australian Open. Only Pete Sampras was younger in 1990 at 18 years and 169 days.