Daniil Medvedev fights for the semi-finals of Wimbledon with a black American Christopher Eubensk. A Russian tennis player must restrain his emotions in order to put all his energy into achieving a result. Moreover, in his career there was already a scandal motivated by racism.

Medvedev was kicked out of the tournament in just three words.

Duel with an American

In 2016, Medvedev was not yet included in the world elite, although he was certainly considered one of the most promising tennis players in Russia. Following the results of the first full season at the adult level, Daniil got into the top 500 and rapidly climbed higher and higher in the ATP rankings.

At that time, the 20-year-old athlete continued to participate in the Challenger series tournaments. As part of the tour, Daniel went to Georgia, USA, where the Savannah Challenger is traditionally held in April.

In the first round, Medvedev not without difficulty beat the more experienced Mitchell Krueger in order to face another owner of the court, Donald Young, in the next stage. The American, who regularly played at the Grand Slam tournaments, clearly approached the fight in the status of a favorite and confidently realized his superiority at the start of the match. However, in the end, the foreigner failed to win in a competitive way: the game was unexpectedly interrupted in the middle of the first set.

Donald Young / Photo: © Steven Ryan / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

“He is your friend”

The scandal erupted at a score of 3:1 in favor of Young. At the break point, Medvedev hit the very corner of the court and was supposed to take the fifth game. The hit was recorded by the linesman, after which the satisfied Russian was about to go for a mini-break, but his opponent hurried to challenge the decision and turned to the judge on the tower. The woman, after a short conversation with Donald, canceled the original decision.

Now the Russian has already tried to argue with the judge, but he chose not the best strategy. Instead of pointing out the facts, Daniel decided to point out to the arbiter… her race. The fact is that both the female referee and Medvedev’s rival were African Americans – and he suspected them of conspiracy:

“He is your friend, I am sure of it,” the tennis player told the judge.

Hearing the statement of the Russian, the guests of the tournament in Savannah laughed. The arbitrator did not rush to conclusions, allowing the opponents to finish the same fifth game. This time the American won, and Medvedev again began to “run into” the judge.

The athlete’s remarks were not recorded, but for the dark-skinned specialist, they clearly became the last straw. The woman interrupted the game by issuing a disqualification for unsportsmanlike behavior to the Russian: it was later reported that Daniil “questioned the objectivity of the referee because of her race.” Medvedev did not challenge the decision: the tennis player simply shook hands with the opponent and the referee, after which he left the court. Daniel did not come to Savannah again.