Daniil Medvedev rants about court conditions for second day in a row at Indian Wells - 'Freakin' disgrace to the sport'

Updated 15/03/2023 at 08:46 GMT

Daniil Medvedev said he would be "as slow as this court" in the toilet due to the court conditions for the second day in a row at Indian Wells. During his round-of-16 tie against Alexander Zverev at Indian Wells, the Russian told the umpire he would take his time in the toilet due to the state of the courts. He went on to win 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals.

Highlights: Medvedev's late surge sets up Zverev meeting at Indian Wells

Daniil Medvedev ranted about the court conditions for the second day in a row at Indian Wells, and told the umpire that he would take his time with his toilet break as a result.

The Russian beat Alexander Zverev in a hard-fought 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 7-5 victory, winning the latter two consecutive sets to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament.

Despite the win, he was unhappy about the slow conditions of the court, a complaint which he expressed to the umpire.

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"Should be banned from playing here. Freakin' disgrace to the sport. This freakin' court, man," he told the umpire in the middle of the match.

"They call it hard court. What a shame to call this awful court a hard court. I’ll go to the toilet, but I don’t care, give me a time violation. I’m going to be as slow as this court, again. I don't care.

"Give me five time violations. I'll go in one minute. If they allow us to play on such a court then I can allow myself to do whatever I want."

Medvedev had a similar rant the day before during his third-round win over Ilya Ivashka. In that match, he told the umpire: “I’m going to be as slow as this court is.

“So you can take 25 minutes. The court is slow, so I go slow. I take my time.”

Asked about his comments following his win over Zverev, Medvedev admitted he had been "immature".

"I do think it actually distracts me and I would be better just shutting up and playing. That’s what I should do. But at the same time, that’s how I am.

"When I was much younger, I was actually much worse. I tried to mature, if we can say like this. I do think that in many aspects of my life and in my tennis career I matured a lot, better than I was three, four years ago.

"The attitude I had on the court today and with Ivashka was immature. But, yeah, what else can I say? That’s also this high-intensity sport where you are one on one against the opponent brings the heat out of you. Some players are capable of controlling it better than the others. Some are controlling it less, like me.

"I don’t like my behaviour on court. But on court, I get crazy, because there are some points where I feel like I’m hitting five, 10 good shots, and then I get a winner. I’m like, that’s not possible. And I get crazy."

Medvedev not only had to overcome the court conditions but also an ankle injury suffered in the second set.

The former world No. 1 says he hopes he will be fine to play Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in quarter-finals.

"I’m, for sure, going to need to tape it because the ankle becomes looser so if you don’t tape it you’re just going to roll it over and over and over until you break it.

"Yeah, gonna tape it for a couple of weeks, days, and hopefully can play tomorrow.

"I'm gonna tape it tomorrow, take one painkiller, and go to play. So not much more to add for the moment."

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