A top Russian tennis player shocked his rival and the crowd after he became angry and flung his racket into the crowd.
Daniil Medvedev, 28, faced off against American Ben Shelton during the third day of the Laver Cup in Berlin.
😡Le craquage 😤 de Daniil avec ce jet de raquette… #LaverCup #LaverCup2024 pic.twitter.com/Bjw8wS2Wzc
— Daniil Medvedev FR 🇫🇷 (@DaniilFrance) September 22, 2024
Medvedev, who was previously ranked number one, went 6-4 down before throwing his racket, which bounced into the crowd. In a video of the incident shared to X (formerly Twitter), Shelton can be seen looking shocked by what just happened.
The incident was not determined as a means for disqualification though, and Medvedev was given a code violation, as reported by The Sun. Medvedev later went on to win the set, beating Shelton with four consecutive points.
Medvedev, who was playing for Team Europe, told his captain Bjorn Borg after the set that he had been playing the "worst tennis" of his life. On the other side of the bench, Team World captain John McEnroe berated the umpire for not evicting Medvedev, who defended Medvedev saying no one was injured.
Shelton went on to beat Medvedev and win the match, winning the second set and the tie-breaker.
After the match, Medvedev told reporters that he was lucky he was not disqualified.
"I didn't mean to throw my racket the way I did. I mean... I meant to throw it in one place, which is a bad move on my part. I was lucky, that's true. I didn't hit anyone. And when you don't hit anyone, you're not disqualified. That's all," Medvedev said, as reported by The Sun. "But I think I shouldn't have done that."
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