There are events in which it cannot and must not be possible to indulge in such shameful gestures, but Daniil Medvedev seriously risked being disqualified in the match against Ben Shelton, at the Laver Cup.
Down 4-5 in the tie-break, the Russian lost a bad point, giving away two set points in a row to his opponent and let off steam by throwing his racket in an area that was not exactly safe for the crowd in the front row. The racket did not hit anyone: only for this reason the Russian did not leave the court with a default knockout. Medvedev managed to win the tie-break, but then suffered his second consecutive defeat in the Laver Cup.
Talking about his gesture at the press conference on the sidelines of the Laver Cup, the Russian tried to justify himself, analyzing:
“I didn’t mean to throw the racket like that. I didn’t mean to throw it in a dangerous place for the others, it was a horrible gesture on my part. I was lucky, because I didn’t hit anyone. When you don’t hit anyone, you don’t get disqualified in tennis. That’s how things work. Obviously it’s a gesture that I shouldn’t have made. It’s rare for me to say something like that, but I played a horrible match.
I felt, during the match, that I played the worst tennis of my life. But it’s okay, because I fought until the end. I lost two matches in the super tie-break, I didn’t have the decisive momentum to win them. I’m very disappointed: here I’m not playing just for myself, but for the whole team. I’m very disappointed with my performance.”
daniil medvedev truly never disappoints to bring something entertaining pic.twitter.com/MTjKJdIGlS
— 🏎️ (@parisianarchive) September 22, 2024
guys im as good as daniil medvedev pic.twitter.com/vK1m9aD4il
— marysia 𓊍⋆｡☁︎ ˚⋆｡☽˚｡ (@lthsxlover) September 23, 2024