Daniil Medvedev had a great start to his Wimbledon semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz, winning the first set on a tie break. However, the Russian player got into a bit of trouble with the umpire near the end of the set when he was given a violation for unsportsmanlike conduct.
After Medvedev muttered something to umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore during the tenth game of the set, the match was momentarily stopped as she got up from her chair to go to the match referee and supervisor. The ball was ruled to be “not up” by the official, meaning that it had bounced twice before Medvedev made contact with it. The 28-year-old was trying to track down a drop shot and lost his composure with her. He lost the game when serving for the set as a result of the call.
Given that the ball doesn’t appear to bounce twice in the footage of the disputed point, Medvedev may have had good reason to file a protest.
It’s understandable that the statement made by Medvedev to Asderaki-Moore caused a commotion, but video has now surfaced that seems to capture exactly what he said.
Danil Medvedev Appears to Swear at Umpire During Wimbledon Semi-Final
The official gets three straight “F*** you” yells from the world number five. Officials running the event, of course, will not put up with that kind of behavior; in fact, there was fear that the player would have been eliminated from the game entirely. Tim Henman gave Medvedev an explanation of the gravity of the situation when speaking on BBC television.