Russian world No.2 Daniil Medvedev erupted in an almighty spray at the chair umpire during his semi-final win at the Australian Open against Stefanos Tsitsipas, leading to a “sting” on the Greek player’s supporter box.
Towards the end of the second set, a frustrated Medvedev claimed that Tsitsipas was being coached from the sideline by his father, Apostolos.
Medvedev took a seat on his bench before unleashing his fury at chair umpire Jaume Campistol.
LIVE UPDATES: Fiery Medvedev erupts, reaches AO final
READ MORE: Dylan Alcott reveals mid-press conference text from Andy Murray
READ MORE: The unheralded weapon rocking Ash Barty’s rivals
“His father can coach every point? Are you stupid?” Medvedev said to the chair umpire.
“His father can talk every point?
Stream every match, every court of the Australian Open live and free on 9Now
“Can you answer my question, please? Can his father talk every point?
“Oh my God, you are so bad How can you be so bad in a semi-final of a Grand Slam?”
When the umpire turned away from Medvedev, the Russian did not stop.
“Look at me, I’m talking to you,” he said.
Medvedev went on to lose the set after the blow-up. He eventually turned the match around, winning in four sets.
As he walked off court after dropping the second set, Medvedev took aim at Campistol a second time, furious Tsitsipas had so far been spared a code violation.
“Do you understand Greek?” Medvedev said to Campistol.
“Next time it should be a code violation because he’s speaking Greek.
“If you don’t [issue a code violation] you are a small cat.”
However, the question of a language barrier appeared to be addressed in the following set in what former Australian tennis player Sam Groth described as a “sting operation” on the Tsitsipas camp.
Greek umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore was suddenly positioned in a tunnel underneath the players’ box and soon after Tsitsipas was issued with a code violation for sideline coaching.
One of the issues is believed to be that it had been unclear whether his father was coaching because his mouth was obscured by a COVID-safe mask.
“Eva Asderaki-Moore was positioned there with a couple of walkie talkies and my understanding from what I saw was that we might see Eva just positioned there the rest of this match to get a listen into the Tsitsipas coaching situation,” Groth said at the time in commentary for Nine.
https://twitter.com/wwos/status/1487020512173826054
“She’s in the tunnel just right there in the tunnel … that is Eva Asderaki-Moore, the chair umpire.
“She’s just below, but out of vision. So basically it’s a sting operation.
“They’re not trying to intimidate and stop it, they’re trying to catch it. Pretty crafty.”
After winning the second set, Tsitsipas could not maintain his momentum and lost in four.
After the win, Medvedev appeared to apologise to the chair umpire.
During his on-court interview, he admitted his blow-up wasn’t his smartest moment.
“To be honest, I don’t think those emotions helped me too much,” he said.
“When I made it, many times I lose the match because of this.
“You lose concentration and too much energy… as soon as I did it I am like ‘That is a big mistake’.
“I am happy that I re-concentrated for the beginning of the third set.
“I managed to pull out some serves and it brought me back into the match… I tried my best and I am happy it worked.”
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!