World No.2 Daniil Medvedev has been fined $12,000 for his outburst during his Australian Open semi-final win over Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The No.2 seed lost his temper at Spanish chair umpire Jaume Campistol over his belief that Stefanos Tsitsipas’ father Apostolos was coaching the No.4 seed from the stands.
“Are you mad? Are you mad? (Tsitsipas’) father can coach every point?” Medvedev screamed.
“Are you stupid? His father can talk every point? His father can talk every point? Answer my question. Will you answer my question? Will you answer my question? Can you answer my question? Can you answer my question, please? Can his father talk every point?”
After barely getting a response from Campistol, Medvedev said: “Oh my god. Oh my god, you are so bad, man. How can you be so bad in semi-final, your answer? Look at me. I’m talking to you!”
He then doubled down as he passed the chair umpire en-route to the locker room for an outfit change, calling Campistol a “small cat”.
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Tennis Australia responded to Medvedev’s eruption by handing the Russian two separate fines. The first, worth $8000, was for “visible obscenity”. The second, worth $4000, was for “unsportsmanlike conduct”.
Together with Canadian No.14 seed Denis Shapovalov, who was fined a total of $12,000 for two separate offences in his quarter-final loss to Rafael Nadal, Medvedev’s fine is the biggest handed out in the tournament to date.
However, it won’t break the bank for the 25-year-old, who according to Forbes, earned almost $US14 million ($20 million) last year. This expanding his career earnings to just over $US22 million, according to the ATP.
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Following his win, Medvedev expressed regret over his behaviour.
“You guys are laughing, so I think we can say it was funny, but I was definitely out of my mind,” he said regarding the “small cat” comment.
“I was not controlling myself anymore about anything, and that’s actually why I’m really happy to win, because many matches like this I would go on just to do mistakes, because you lose your concentration a lot when you get in this heat of the moment things.
“The next game, 15-40, started terrible, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m just completely losing the fiber of this match’. I’m so happy that I managed to catch it really fast.”
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