mobile app bar

Daniil Medvedev Shockingly Not Defaulted by Chair Umpire Mohamed Lahyani After Russian Nearly Hits Camerawoman With Racquet

Nandini Rikhee
Published

Daniil Medvedev Extends Embarrassing Grand Slam Final He Shares With Alexander Zverev & Stefanos Tsitsipas After Australian Open Final

Daniil Medvedev, well known for his feisty behavior on the court, has been at it again. During an important Laver Cup match, the visibly frustrated Russian threw his racquet into the crowd. Fortunately, it missed the camerawoman and Medvedev himself was lucky to avoid being defaulted by the umpire.

Medvedev became furious when he lost a point in the first set tiebreak while playing against Ben Shelton on the tournament’s last day. This upset the Russian to the point that he ended up throwing his racquet into the stands.

Luckily, it did not hit anyone and the racquet just missed the camerawoman waiting near the stands with her equipment. The absence of any injury prompted the umpire Mohamed Lahyani to let Medvedev off the hook instead of calling a default. Despite Shelton’s appeal to him, the chair umpire took no action against the world number 5.

It did not end there, as Shelton’s teammate Frances Tiafoe also approached the umpire for the same. The umpire, however, dismissed the appeal, reportedly stating that if the racket had hit someone, he would have taken action but ‘the toss was not bad.’

Even though Medvedev might have escaped the punishment from the umpire, fans on social media did not go easy on him. Supporters condemned the Russian for his action and demanded that default should have been given for the throw.

Medvedev and Shelton’s clash was a neck-to-neck battle, which was eventually won by the American player. After both of them won a set each, Shelton prevailed in the match tiebreak 10-7.

Daniil Medvedev and Mohamed Lahyani’s infamous history

This is not the first time that chair umpire Lahyani has come under the spotlight for such a decision. He has been associated with controversies in the past and one of them also involves Medvedev.

During the 2023 Indian Wells tournament, the Russian was seen telling the umpire about the kind of courts built for the tournament. He complained that the court was slow it did not give him a ‘hard court.’ Medvedev further stated that he would be just as slow for the bathroom breaks as the court.

Lahyani had also suffered a 2-tournament ban when he was accused of advising Nick Kyrgios on tennis during the 2018 US Open. With this type of history, the latest incident is another addition to Lahyani’s long line of controversies.

Post Edited By:Karthik Raman

About the author

Nandini Rikhee

Nandini Rikhee

Nandini Rikhee is a Tennis writer for The SportsRush. Having done her bachelors in Journalism from Lady Shri Ram College for women, Nandini has been working in the field of sports journalism for around 3 years now. During the course of this time, she got the opportunity to cover some major sports events and tournaments like the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games etc. She grew up watching Roger Federer hit his iconic backhand and Rafael Nadal his classic forehand. Being a Tennis enthusiast, working for this sport is a matter of delight for her as it helps her enjoy and love the work.

Share this article