Retour
Daniil Medvedev threatened to retire in the middle of his semi-final match at the Shanghai Masters while asking to see the replay of a point. The fifth seed trailed Spanish star Rafael Jodar 2-4, and Jodar was serving at deuce when Medvedev missed the ball. He explained that he only hit it long because he thought his opponent’s ball was out, and wanted to see Jodar’s ball on the big screen.
Chair umpire Adel Nour explained that he could only get a replay of the final shot of the rally, which was Medvedev’s. But the Russian continued arguing his case, saying he wanted to see the last shot, even though what he wanted to see was Jodar’s forehand, which was the penultimate shot.
“I can only show the last shot, Daniil. This one was in. We cannot show this one. Daniil, according to protocol, the last shot only [is] the one was shown. We cannot show this now, we cannot. This [Medvedev’s shot] is considered the last shot. That’s why we show this immediately,” Nour said.
However, Medvedev thought that Jodar’s forehand was the real ‘last shot’ because his own ball was out, so the Spaniard’s shot was the last one that landed in. “It’s out. This is the last shot of the rally. I want to see. I thought it was out, that’s why I missed. I’m just asking you to see the ball, that’s it,” he explained.
The umpire explained that, according to protocol, the big screens would only show the very last ball hit. “But this is the last point, the shot of the rally,” Medvedev continued. “This is considered the last one. We cannot show this one,” Nour replied.
The fifth seed wasn’t having it. “No, no, no. This is the last shot of the rally. You know that I’m not going to go away until you show? This is the last shot of the rally. The ball I thought was out, I missed. I want to see the ball,” he said.
“I’m not moving, huh? I can retire, I don’t care. The ATP gives me fine anyway. I will retire. Show me the ball, otherwise I’m out of this court.”
Nour seemed to give in. “I will check if I can show it, but actually, they shouldn’t,” he told Medvedev, before getting on his walkie-talkie and asking for Jodar’s shot to be put up on the screen. It was shown moments later. But commentators thought the umpire had fallen for the 2019 champion’s trap.
“He has fallen for it hook, line and sinker,” Barry Cowan said on the world feed. Lee Goodall, who was sitting courtside, replied: “It came out of nowhere, and my first thought, like you Barry, [was] is he just asking for the replay to buy himself a few more seconds? Because after these physical exchanges, it’s been Medvedev, for me, who is looking slightly more gassed of the two.”
On Sky Sports, Jonathan Overend and Naomi Broady thought the umpire should have seen if Medvedev would really stick to his word and retire. “I’d love him to call his bluff. I would love him to just call his bluff. I also don’t know if that is protocol [to only show the last shot],” Broady said.
“You can’t say it’s protocol to only show the last point and then buckle when he threatens to retire,” Overend added. “It’s a bit ridiculous. Threatening to retire from the match if they didn’t show that image on the screen. I mean, what?”
Jodar went on to take the first set 6-3, but struggled to serve it out. It took him around seven minutes to get through the game, and he received an off-court medical timeout after taking the lead.
Retour
Top
| Politique de confidentialité Conditions d'utilisation Contact |
Actualiser
|
All the best breaking news stories from Apex Football Lite. Optimised for feature phones and low end Android devices, Apex Football Lite helps users with legacy devices and poor network connectivity access the latest football news and live scores. Particularly relevant for breaking football news in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.