Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedev sealed his place in a second consecutive grand slam final by beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 but not without drama after he lost his temper with Jaume Campistol and called him ‘stupid’ and a ‘bad’ umpire during the semi-final clash.
Medvedev took a close first set in a tie-break but was then broken at 4-4 in the second to hand the Greek an opportunity to level the match at a set a piece.
As both players headed to the changeover, Medvedev was warned for a “visible obscenity”, after which he started screaming up at umpire Campistol, complaining about Tsitsipas’ father and coach Apostolos talking to him about the match. (Coaching players during a match is banned in men’s tennis.)
Campistol was unmoved, which enraged Medvedev further.
“Are you mad? His father can’t talk every point. No, are you stupid? Can you answer my question please? Oh my God you are so bad,” Medvedev added.
“How can you be so bad in the semi-final of a grand slam. Look at me! I’m talking to you,” he yelled.
Campistol then called time, to which Medvedev shouted: “what time?”, and then watched as the Russian could not stop Tsitsipas serving out the set.
“Next time, it should be a code violation. If you don’t [call it], what can I call [you]? A small cat?”
The US Open champion took himself off court at the end of the set but as he left, once again implored Campistol to do something about what he felt was blatant coaching.
Medvedev is shooting for back-to-back major titles after upsetting Djokovic in last year’s US Open final.
Like in New York last September, when he stopped Djokovic from completing a calendar Grand Slam of titles, Medvedev will be trying to derail Nadal’s tilt at making men’s tennis history.
Spanish star Nadal will be playing against world number two Medvedev in the final of the Australian Open on Sunday.
