Serena Williams’ former coach believes Daniil Medvedev should have been immediately disqualified after throwing his racket at the Laver Cup. Medvedev failed to control his anger during his defeat to Ben Shelton but was spared a heavy punishment by the chair umpire.
A wayward shot from the Russian gave Shelton a set point in the first-set tiebreak, leaving Medvedev furious with himself. He reacted by angrily throwing his racket at the crowd, but it did not hit anybody because of the gap between the stands and the court.
Frances Tiafoe, who was supporting his Team USA colleague Shelton, pleaded with the umpire for Medvedev to be disqualified as a result of his outburst. However, he was ultimately allowed to continue with the umpire handing down a code violation.
Rennae Stubbs issued a damning review of the incident on her podcast, arguing that players should be automatically defaulted if their rackets are thrown outside the boundaries of the court.
She said: “What the living f**k was he doing throwing that racket? It didn’t go into the crowd because there was this gap between the court and the actual audience, so for him to throw it at the crowd he would have to really throw it higher or bounce it a lot harder.
“It went near a couple of the crew and a couple of people sitting around the court. I think the WTA and ATP Tour need to make a blanket rule. If you throw your racket and it leaves the court, no matter what, you are defaulted.”
Medvedev, who is no stranger to letting his anger out during matches, was quick to apologise for his behaviour after taking a moment to cool down after the match.
“I didn’t want to throw it the way I threw it,” he said. “I mean, I didn’t want… I wanted to throw it, like, on one place, so it was horrible from me. I got lucky.
“I didn’t touch anyone. When you don’t touch anyone in tennis, you don’t get a disqualification. So that’s it. Yeah, I should not do this.”
Medvedev ended up on the winning team at the Laver Cup despite losing to Shelton and Tiafoe on his second appearance at the tournament. Team Europe secured a 13-11 victory over Team USA, with Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz turning the tide in the final two singles matches.
