Daniil Medvedev called for an official to be sacked during another furious meltdown at the Monte-Carlo Masters. The Russian launched into a verbal tirade after being left frustrated by an errant call during his defeat to Karen Khachanov on Wednesday.
The contest was locked at 5-5 in the second set when Medvedev was left seething by a dubious line call. Broken on the very next point, he launched his racket across the court before heading to his chair and launching into a vociferous rant.
Medvedev did not attempt to hide his anger as he tore into the officials, even suggesting the match supervisor should be taken out of the clay court circle.
“They don’t know how to referee anymore,” fumed Medvedev. “The mark is out. Who will take action? Yesterday, the ball is out, it’s called in. Who will take action? This ball is out there. Who will take responsibility?
“It’s not my responsibility to referee the match. It’s this guy in the glasses. He doesn’t need glasses because he doesn’t see anything, he should not be the referee. It’s behind him, it’s in front of him. It’s a slow ball.
“He’s a bad referee, he should be out of the referee circle. It’s clay, it’s not hard court. It’s out. Who will take responsibility after the match? Answer this, the camera is looking. The ball is out, you can check it.”
Medvedev was hit with a point penalty for his furious tirade as well as a warning for throwing his racket. It was his second meltdown in as many days after screaming at the umpire during his win over Gael Monfils on Tuesday.
Medvedev was left furious when the chair umpire admitted the linesman had made an error in a game that saw him broken. He snapped at the umpire during the changeover, screaming: “It’s a freaking joke. It’s out, how did I lose the game when it’s out? It’s out, it’s out!”
He later vowed to work on keeping a cooler head in future, saying in his post-match press conference: “I’m going to get crazy sometimes on court, whether it’s myself, my team, crowd, umpire, I’m going to go crazy sometimes. I’m trying to work that I go crazy less and it affects my game less.”
