Daniil Medvedev was a hotbed of inappropriate conduct during his third-round match against Feliciano Lopez at the US Open on Friday night.
The 5th-seeded player got frustrated after his serve was broken and he fell behind 5-3 in the first set. A ball person brought him a towel after the game, and Medvedev snapped at the man. Medvedev received a code violation for his mistreatment of the ball person and then threw his racket when the violation was announced.
Medvedev is in a foul mood, throws a tantrum at the towel guy then throws his racket when the code violation is announced #USOpen pic.twitter.com/YyNtfbR0ry
— CJ Fogler (@cjzer0) August 31, 2019
Then Medvedev flipped the bird to fans as he walked to his chair at the side change.
Here's Medvedev flipping off the crowd on the opposite side of the ump like a child. The ump sees it on the replay but doesn’t give a violation pic.twitter.com/PHW2ivae94
— WTA Tea (@WTATea) August 31, 2019
Medvedev’s gesture was shown on the big screen at Louis Armstrong Stadium, leading to boos from the fans. Chair umpire Damien Dumusois said he could not discipline Medvedev because he did not see the gesture live.
Medvedev rallied to win the first set in a tiebreak and won the match in four sets. Afterwards he thanked the fans for their energy, crediting them with providing him the boost he needed to win. The comment seemed to be an acknowledgement of the boos.
