What should have been a thoroughly exciting contest between World No.6 Daniil Medvedev and tennis legend Novak Djokovic had to stop after just two hours when Medvedev was disqualified for hitting a fan in the eye with the ball.
At the semifinals of the China Open, a clearly frustrated Medvedev smacked a ball that had ricocheted off the back of the court, sending it into the crowd where it struck a fan; said fan required medical attention and was soon escorted out of the way. While accidental, harming a fan like this still qualifies as a default: an act so unsportsmanlike it can justify immediate disqualification for the guilty player. Because of this, the game was ruled in Djokovic’s favour and he progressed to the finals.
Medvedev did not just lose his chance to play in the finals, however; for defaulting he must also forfeit all prize money made so far during the Open which amounts to a cool £165,000. That is the second biggest default penalty ever, behind, ironically enough, his opponent Djokovic who was fined over £180,000 in 2020 for a similar incident where a ball struck a line judge.
Medvedev must be all the more frustrated by knowing that this is not the first time he has allowed his aggression during play to get the better of him. Since 2017, he’s been fined at least $149,000 (£112,000) for outbursts on tennis courts, ranging from arguing with officials to damaging equipment.
Despite his notorious aggression, when addressing the incident he was very concerned for the injured spectator: “I feel terribly sorry for him actually and I just hope he’s okay… The rest, we move on. I just really care about him right now.”
Someone who may be seeing the silver lining in this drama is Djokovic. With Medvedev’s immediate disqualification, he was given a spot in the finals against Australia’s Alex de Minaur – a game he went on to win.
Djokovic now boasts a remarkable all-time record of 34-0 in the China Open and has won a total of 102 ATP titles in his career; one more will tie him with longtime rival Roger Federer for the second-most singles titles ever.
This also means he has won at least one title every year since 2006. I don’t imagine he was eyeing up this particular path to get there though.
“Daniil Medvedev Practicing Tennis 07” by Amaury Laporte is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
