"Daniil Medvedev has lost his mind";"This is embarrassing" - Fans stumped by Russian's 'childish' behavior in ATP Finals 2024 loss to Taylor Fritz
Daniil Medvedev's behavior during his opening-match loss to Taylor Fritz at the 2024 ATP Finals has left tennis fans perplexed. The Russian, after a point penalty midway through the second set, responded by openly antagonizing the chair umpire, even threatening to retire from the clash at one point.
Medvedev lost the opening set 6-4 against the American on Sunday, ending the set with three double faults in a bizarre display of tennis. In the second set, things were more even to start with, but Fritz ended up breaking serve to take a 4-2 lead.
To start the game, Medvedev received a point penalty for, a consequence of him smashing his racket at the end of the previous game. In the process, the former US Open champ ended up causing damage to a microphone on the side of the court, drawing the penalty from the umpire.
Frustrated by the decision, Medvedev spent the next game blatantly disregarding the umpire, throwing his racket in the air and catching it between points, even dropping them on the ground to pretend like it was an unintentional slip from his hands. To exacerbate matters, he almost received one of Fritz's serve holding the racket by the wrong end. The crowd got in on the action as well, whistling the Russian off while the umpire requested them to be silent.
Going 5-2 behind, Medvedev threatened retirement, telling the umpire that he just needed one ball to put an end to the match. Thankfully, nothing materialized, and Fritz soon wrapped up the set 6-3 to take a 1-0 lead in the group.
Daniil Medvedev's attitude in the loss, meanwhile, became the talk of the town, with fans on social media calling him out for his 'childish' and 'embarrassing' actions.
"Childish behavior from Medvedev. It’s not funny man," one fan said.
Medvedev is so shameless acting like this while being bald and in his thirties," one another fan wrote.
"Medvedev WTF are you doing?!? this is embarrassing," one fan tweeted.
Fans felt Medvedev had disrespected the tournament and the sport with his actions, as one fan sarcastically wondered how the Russian could be part of the top 8 players in the world when he could 'lose his mind' so easily.
"Medvedev has lost his mind. Welcome to the best 8 male players," one fan said.
"Terrible behavior," another fan wrote.
"He is a clown and he is embarrassment for tennis,always was,always will be," one fan commented.
Who does Daniil Medvedev face in his remaining two matches at the ATP FInals group stage?
Daniil Medvedev, following the loss to Taylor Fritz, will now likely need to win both of his remaining fixtures at the ATP Finals to go through to the knockouts. He will next take on Jannik Sinner and Alex de Minaur in the round robin stage.
Medvedev is a former winner at the ATP Finals, taking the 2020 edition. This year, however, he is yet to win a title on the tour, with his best result being a run to the final at the Australian Open and the Indian Wells Open.