Jack Draper and Daniil Medvedev’s Indian Wells quarterfinal will be best remembered for a controversial hindrance call.
During the latter stages of the second set, Draper was punished for hindrance.
Losing the point, Draper was broken at 5-5, and subsequently lost the match in straight sets.
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The incident caused quite a stir, as many believe the umpire was wrong to award the point to Medvedev.
During the latest episode of Nothing Major, Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey shared their thoughts on the controversy and called for a rule change.
ATP Tour told to make hindrance rule change after Daniil Medvedev vs Jack Draper incident
Querrey weighed in on the issue, proposing a potential rule change.
“So [Jack] Draper is serving second set, 5-5, 0-15, [Daniil] Medvedev hits a ball deep on the baseline, Draper puts his hands up like, ‘Oh, I thought the out call was coming’, the rally then keeps going for eight or nine more balls, Medvedev dumps one in the net,” said Querrey.
“Medvedev then goes to the line umpire, says, ‘Hey, Draper stopped play, can you look at the replay?’. The replays showed Draper kind of putting his arms up, but ultimately, he kept playing an extended rally, and the umpire sided with Medvedev, said ‘No, you did kind of put your arms up’, and went back and awarded the point to Medvedev.
“So Draper was down 0-30. It was like we had never seen it before, even [Jim] Courier was calling it, and was like, excited and curious to see how it played out.
“Ultimately, I think, because they kept playing, Medvedev hit five or six balls afterwards, he shouldn’t have been allowed to challenge that.
“If Medvedev, on the next ball, had said, he put his hands up, look at that, then it’s Medvedev’s point.
“That’s how I think it should have played out.”
“I totally agree with you, they played seven or eight more balls after that. But I don’t know what the letter of the law is?” added John Isner.
Johnson then suggested the ATP Tour make a rule change in the aftermath of the incident.
“That’s the issue, they’ll have to come up with that, with any other sport, football, hockey, baseball, you can’t challenge a play prior,” he said.
“You’ve got to stop it at the moment.
“I think it will change that way, you don’t stop in the first ball, you can’t replay something.
“What are you going to replay? ‘I think he foot faulted on his serve.’ You can’t keep going backwards, you have to do it in the moment, I think.”
Isner and Querrey then delivered their final thoughts.
“It was a weird situation, but I think Draper got a raw deal there, for sure,” said Isner.
“But I’m also not mad at Medvedev; it’s the tour that needs to figure it out,” said Querrey.
The Nothing Major podcast hosts have had their say, but what did Draper and Medvedev think?
Jack Draper and Daniil Medvedev comment on hindrance controversy
Speaking to Tim Henman after the match, Draper commented on the incident.
“I think Daniil was by far the stronger player. I do feel a bit hard done by, because I did not think that it distracted him enough to lose the point,” said Draper.
“It’s a difficult situation because obviously I did make a movement with my hand and the umpire had to make a call on it, but a little hard done by that I lost the point.
“I think I can also see it from a subjective point of view.”
During his post-match press conference, Medvedev admitted he should have made the call earlier, but insists he was distracted by Draper’s movement.
“I think I should have done it the moment it happened, like, I should not have waited until the end of the point,” he said.
“But if you look at my first forehand, I do, after this happens, I could have gone for more. I was kind of a tiny bit distracted.
“That’s basically it. Was I distracted big time? No. Was I distracted a bit? Yes. Is it enough to win the point? I don’t know.”
It’s tough to gauge who was right or wrong in this situation, but both players will now want to move on from the hindrance controversy.
Medvedev will now prepare to take on Carlos Alcaraz in the Indian Wells semifinals on Saturday, March 14.
