Daniil Medvedev admitted he was “lucky” that chair umpire Mohamed Layhani decided not to default him during his showdown with Ben Shelton at the Laver Cup after he accidently threw his racket into the crowd.
The incident occurred in the first set tiebreak just before the Russian clinched the opening set to take control of the match.
But Shelton hit back to land the second set and then won the subsequent first-to-10 tiebreak to taste victory.
Medvedev and Shelton played out a close opening set, with both players battling for dominance. But after sending a shot long to hand the American two set points, the 2021 US Open winner launched his racket into the ground.
The racket bounced up and made its way into the stands, narrowly avoiding a spectator. Medvedev was ultimately given a warning and was able to continue the match.
“I didn’t want to throw it the way I threw it,” Medvedev explained after the encounter. “I wanted to throw it, like, on one place – so [it] was horrible from me. I got lucky. I didn’t touch anyone. When you don’t touch anyone in tennis, you don’t get a disqualification. So that’s it. [But] I should not do this.”
Team World captain John McEnroe appeared to discuss the racket throw with Layhani, with Team World player Frances Tiafoe angry that Medvedev was allowed to play on.
The umpire told Tiafoe: “Frances, it bounced and it didn’t hit anyone. The result was not bad. The result was not bad. If it had hit someone, I agree with you.”
And after the match, Shelton gave his reaction to the incident as he explained: “When he threw it first, and I saw the way the lady that it was going at reacted, I thought it was, like, right at her head. But Mohamed told me that the video showed that it was like four metres away.
“I wouldn’t condone throwing a racket into the crowd. Obviously it was an accident. He was throwing it down into the court.
“Lucky, lucky that it didn’t hit somebody. But definitely I didn’t think that (that Medvedev should have been defaulted) after he explained it to me.”
Medvedev’s defeat ultimately didn’t prove to be costly for Team Europe as they ended the weekend as 13-11 winners in Berlin. Alexander Zverev defeated Tiafoe in the penultimate match on Sunday, with Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz overcoming Taylor Fritz in the final clash of the competition.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk