Daniil Medvedev reacts to clip of Stefan Kozlov accidentally hitting a BMW parked on court, urges the American to keep his cool as BMW is his "favorite car"
Reigning US Open champion Daniil Medvedev took to Twitter to react to a rather bizarre incident that took place at the Delray Beach Open. During Stefan Kozlov and Tommy Paul's last-eight encounter, Kozlov accidentally made contact with a BMW car that was parked courtside for advertising purposes.
Serving at 4-3 in the first set, Paul came up with a wide serve, pulling Kozlov way off the court. The serve was hit with loads of spin and curved towards the BMW that was parked a few feet away from the baseline. Kozlov did not have enough room to hit a clean shot and appeared to graze the car with his racket.
Frustrated with his shot, Kozlov lost his cool and almost took a swing at the car, but managed to stop himself at the last moment. The American may have been rattled by the incident as he proceeded to drop eight of the next nine games.
Reacting to the incident, Medvedev joked that he had no problem with Kozlov returning from so deep in the court. However, he did urge the American not to take out his anger on the BMW, as it happened to be the Russian's favorite luxury car.
Listen…no problem to see you hit returns back there….but don’t hit the BMW! That’s my favorite car," Medvedev tweeted.
twitter.com/tennis_gifs/st…
Listen…no problem to see you hit returns back there🤣🤪….but don’t hit the @bmw! That’s my favorite car 💪 twitter.com/tennis_gifs/st…
Tennis fans, meanwhile, hit out at tournament organizers for placing a car on the court.
@tennis_gifs Who'd have thought that leaving a car on a tennis court while people are playing would impact the game?
@tennis_gifs I don’t understand why they put the car there. Surprised it took this long for a player to hit it
@tennis_gifs How can they put a car on the court? This is typical American, sorry. Unbelievable.
WHO THE FUCK PUTS A BMW ON A TENNIS COURT??? twitter.com/tennis_gifs/st…
I hope that car gets totally destroyed before they develop the common sense to remove it. So dumb. twitter.com/tennis_gifs/st…
Where sponsorship activation goes very wrong.... twitter.com/tennis_gifs/st…
Daniil Medvedev was involved in a similar incident last year when he kicked an on-court TV camera
Medvedev was involved in a similar incident at last year's Cincinnati Masters. The Russian was leading Andrey Rublev by a set in the semifinals of the Masters 1000 event when he inadvertently crashed into an on-court camera.
Unlike Kozlov, Medvedev completely lost his composure and proceeded to angrily kick the camera before complaining to the umpire about how he almost broke his hand during the collision. Although the incident was resolved shortly afterwards, it did prompt many fans to question the logic of keeping equipment on the court.
For academic purposes, the ATP has a provision for removing on-court items. According to the "Equipment & Supplies" section in the 2022 rulebook, any object (even those meant for advertising purposes) that affects a player's movement can be removed from the court at the match supervisor's discretion.
"The Supervisor must approve the placement of items or equipment on any court. The Supervisor may remove or have removed any item (including advertising) that may affect the safety of a player, official or ball person," the provision reads.