‘This is gonna be on TennisTV, bro’ was Daniil Medvedev’s immediate reaction to losing a point for saying the word sorry during his opening match at the National Bank Open.
The top seed was taking on Alexander Bublik where an unusual turn of events unfolded during the third set of their encounter. Boasting a 2-0 lead in the decider, Medvedev fired a shot directly at his opponent which resulting in him falling to the ground. Bublik managed to return the ball whilst on the ground and Medvedev said ‘sorry’ straight away. However, the Russian apologised during the rally and not after. Prompting umpire Aurélie Tourte to issue him with a hindrance call which meant he lost the point.
“I had the ball to hit. You didn’t have any ball to hit. Can you imagine how stupid this call is? This is going to be on TennisTV, bro,” Medvedev said to Bublik after being hit with the penalty.
According to the tennis rulebook, a hindrance occurs when ‘talking interferes with the opponent’s ability to play a ball.’ Tourte’s decision is in line with the ATP rulebook which states that an Inadvertent event such as an involuntary sound is classed as a hindrance.
Speaking to reporters after the match, the Russian admits that he had to use google translate to get a proper understanding of what the term meant as he saw the funny side to the incident. Although he insists that his apology to Bublik during their rally had no impact on his ability to play.
“For me, the thing is that either they should change the name of the rule, because “hindrance,” I looked at it on Google Translate, because I was not sure what it means. I thought it meant disturbance, like to disturb somebody. I was right. You can ask Bublik if I disturbed him by saying “Sorry.” He will say no. I had the smash, which I would never miss in my life. I actually put it away,” Tennis Now quoted Medvedev as saying.
“Even if he jumped like, he couldn’t get the ball. So again, there was no hindrance. There was no disturbance. Yeah, it’s about the rules.”
That wasn’t the only rule which the world No.2 believes needs to be looked at. During his match, he wasn’t allowed off the court to change following a rain delay. Something he later questioned.
“The rule where if the rain stopped the match for one hour or 45 minutes, why do I still have no toilet breaks left? It’s a new match. I mean, there are some rules that should maybe considered to, I don’t know, to be more precise or whatever. Because again, there was no hindrance. So, yeah, that’s all I have to say.” He added.
Medvedev ended up coming from behind to win his match 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and later admitted that the rain delay helped him regain his focus in the match. He will next play either Citi Open champion Jannik Sinner or James Duckworth.
