MELBOURNE: Daniil Medvedev will play Rafael Nadal for the Australian Open title on Sunday after a provocative victory over Greek fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-final on Friday.
The Russian world number two reached the Australian Open decider for the second year in succession by defeating Tsitsipas 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Daniil Medvedev screamed at the umpire calling him "Are you stupid" and much more during his Australian Open semi-final with Stefanos Tsitsipas. After winning the first set, the Russian was pulled back to 1-1 by the Greek.
The umpire responded to Medvedev’s tantrum.
A Greek-speaking umpire, Eva Asderaki, was seen sitting under the tunnel out of view of his fathers box during the third set soon after the Medvedev disrespectful meltdown.
She responded immediately and Tsitsipas was given a code violation warning for coaching at 1-1 in the fourth set putting Tsitsipas off his game.
After this Stefanos didn't win another point.
When asked about on-court coaching Tsitsipas responded in the post-match interview
"They've been targeting me already a long time. I feel like I've gotten a few in the past and the umpires are always paying attention to my box never paying attention to the opponent's box. I feel I have been a victim of that for a long time now"
"The referees, I don't think they will ever understand that I cannot hear anything when I'm playing because I'm trying to find solutions and try and read the game and recreate the game in my mind before the point starts"
"...Last thing I want is somebody giving me tips and giving me advice on what I should do"
Tsitsipas on Medvedev's outburst:
Well, it's for sure funny (smiling). It's funny. I don't pay attention to the stuff. I know players like to do this stuff to throw you off mentally. Could be maybe a tactic. It's all right. He's not the most mature person anyways.
