Daniil Medvedev in furious tirade at umpire after losing point for apologising to opponent

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Daniil Medvedev was involved in a spat with the umpire during his win at the National Bank Open last night (August 10). The Russian was called for hindrance after he shouted “sorry” to his opponent Alexander Bublik, losing the point. He deemed the call “stupid” as he came through the Kazakh 4-6 6-3 6-4.

While 2-0 up in the final set with Bublik, Medvedev thought he hit his opponent with the ball as the world No 49 fell to the ground returning a smash and called out to apologise as the ball left the world No 39’s racket.

Chair umpire Aurelie Tourte called hindrance, giving Bublik the point, causing confusion between the players before the Russian launched a tirade on Tourte.

The umpire explained: “I called hindrance because you spoke during the point.”

Bublik initially seemed to believe he had been called for hindrance as he racket hit the ground when he fell and even asked Tourte who spoke during the point but saw the funny side when Medvedev voiced his disbelief.

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Looking at his opponent over the net, Medvedev said: “I had the ball to hit, you didn’t have any ball to hit. Can you imagine how stupid this call is? This is gonna be on Tennis TV bro.”

As the Kazakh laughed, world No 2 Medvedev continued: “He’s laughing at you. This is unbelievable what you have done.”

Bublik, still seeming confused, asked: “So you call that I interrupt the point” but Tourte, a gold badge umpire, said Medvedev had interrupted the point.

The Russian continued to brand the decision “unbelievable” and continued to tell the chair umpire that Bublik was laughing at her.

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“So what do we do, we replay?” he asked, as Tourte confirmed that they wouldn’t be replaying the point and Bublik had gone 40-0 up.

He then jokingly called for the ref before his opponent hit an ace to seal the game.

Despite his outburst, many have pointed out that the umpire was correct in her call.

According to the official ATP rulebook for 2021, a hindrance can include an ‘Inadvertent or Deliberate event’.

In a list of examples of inadvertent events, the ATP says this can be ‘an involuntary sound or exclamation (ex. verbal reaction to an injury) from a player’.

Speaking to reporters after the match, Medvedev admitted he didn’t fully understand the meaning of the term but was able to see the funny side, having already secured himself a break of serve in the final set.

“First of all, that’s a good thing. It was fun. If it would be a breakpoint it would be less fun, I’m telling you,” he said.

“For me, the thing is that either they should change the name of the rule, because “hindrance,” I looked at it on Google Translate, because I was not sure what it means. I thought it meant disturbance, like to disturb somebody. I was right. You can ask Bublik if I disturbed him by saying “Sorry.” He will say no.

“I had the smash, which I would never miss in my life. I actually put it away. Even if he jumped like, he couldn’t get the ball. So again, there was no hindrance. There was no disturbance. Yeah, it’s about the rules.

“Same about the rule where if the rain stopped the match for one hour or 45 minutes, why do I still have no toilet breaks left? It’s a new match. I mean, there are some rules that should maybe considered to, I don’t know, to be more precise or whatever. Because again, there was no hindrance. So, yeah, that’s all I have to say.”
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