‘I freaking can’t pee!?’ – Daniil Medvedev perplexed and irritated at Australian Open
Daniil Medvedev was not pleased about what he saw as inconsistency within the rules upheld by the umpire as he took on serve-volleying anomaly Maxime Cressy for a place in the Australian Open quarter-finals.
The Russian was very talkative in general during the match, later admitting he was trying to get in the head of his opponent with some comments while expressing his dismay with others.
After winning the first set, Medvedev wanted to go use the toilet during the minute and a half break between sets without it counting as a full designated toilet break, wishing to save that for changing his kit after the second set.
The US Open champion was denied that opportunity by both the umpire and supervisor as they explained that he could only use up his toilet break.
Later, when Medvedev thought the chair umpire was allowing Cressy too much time before starting the serve clock, as well as not giving a time violation when the clock hit zero, the second seed blew up.
“For who are the rules?” Medvedev questioned the umpire.
“I freaking can’t pee but [Cressy] can wait seven seconds [to serve] and you don’t say anything.
“The rules are for who?” Medvedev reiterated.
“The rules are for who? Who are the rules for? Who makes these rules?”
Medvedev clinched victory in four sets to reach consecutive Australian Open quarter-finals.
He later expressed his regret at some of the things he said, but stuck by his views on the toilet break situation.
“[It’s] stupid,” he said.
“Yeah, [it’s] nonsense, so I got, as you can see, pretty mad about it and I think what happened afterwards was a consequence.”
Medvedev takes on young Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime next for a fourth time, and a third time since August last year, the Russian having won on all three previous occasions.
The pair faced off in the semi-finals of the US Open, Medvedev triumphing there in straight sets, before again taking to court together in the semi-finals of the ATP Cup earlier this month.
Medvedev won in straight sets again that day, but Auger-Aliassime went on to win the event with Team Canada.
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