Tennis
Taylor Fritz sends Daniil Medvedev into epic meltdown in ATP Tour Finals
Fritz defeated Medvedev in straight sets in Turin, although the American’s victory was overshadowed by the Russian’s behaviour.
Taylor Fritz got off to a perfect start at the 2024 ATP Tour Finals, although his 6-4, 6-3 win over Daniil Medvedev was overshadowed by the Russian suffering an incredible meltdown, in which he threatened to quit the match.
Things started to go wrong for the 28-year-old at the end of the first set, in which he had to hold serve at 4-5 down to avoid losing.
What caused Medvedev’s fury against Taylor Fritz?
Medvedev, however, produced three consecutive double faults to hand his American opponent the set. That led to the 2021 US Open champion smashing his racket against his bench and throwing it on the ground. A code violation ensued, although that was only the beginning.
Fritz fluked a lobbed winner to take what proved to be a decisive 4-2 lead in the second set, which tipped Medvedev further over the edge, despite the Californian’s apology.
The Russian again sent his racket flying, later cracking it off a microphone, which earned him a second warning and caused him to forfeit a point to Fritz, who started the next game with a 15-0 lead.
Medvedev tossed his racket into the air on a number of other occasions in between Fritz’s serves and at one point turned it around, holding it by the head as he prepared to return the American’s serve.
Eventually, he turned his ire towards the umpire, who he told he was going to retire from the match as it approached its conclusion. Bizarrely, Medvedev could then be heard asking the official to give him a ball, the reason for which is unclear.
“Can I have one ball? An old ball that you don’t need. One old ball”. An odd ending to what will go down as a memorable match-up, for all the wrong reasons.
Which players are playing in the ATP Tour Finals?
Fritz and Medvedev will each play against world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and Alex De Minaur in the Ilie Nastse Group in the round-robin. Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev are their potential opponents in the knockout rounds, which begins with the semifinals.