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 cameraman 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.’
Frances Tiafoe goes over to talk to umpire Mohamed Lahyani about the racquet throw and why Medvedev was not defaulted.
Lahyani says to Tiafoe “The toss was not bad, but if it had hit someone I agree with you.” #LaverCup
— Erik Gudris (@ATNtennis) September 22, 2024
Le craquage de Daniil Medvedev #LaverCup pic.twitter.com/adJlVGk1Iq
— QuotidienSport (@Quotidien_Sport) September 22, 2024
Wtf Daniil
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) September 22, 2024
Reckless player
— D-PAC (@deepu_speaks) September 22, 2024
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.
