Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas have had a battle of words after their first-round game at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Miami. After the 2:6, 6:4, 6:2 victory of Medvedev, the players insulted each other, both accused each other of unsportsmanlike behavior.
At first Medvedev did not come into the game at all and lost the first set clearly with breaks to 0:3 and 2:6. But the Russian fought his way back, broke in the second set in the decisive seventh game, which meant that after a little more than an hour he entered the decisive third set.
But before the final set Medvedev left the place for a long time to meet his human needs. Relieved, he returned to the pitch and broke his opponent early for 2-1. Tsitsipas, for his part, applied for an “emergency break” at this stand to go to the toilet.
That didn’t change the fact that Medvedev played the set home safely: With another break to 5:2 the 22-year-old was the winner. After the obligatory shake hands, however, there was a tense battle of words, the chair referee had to ask Medvedev several times to calm down.
“You better keep your mouth shut now, okay?” said Medvedev, just after he sat in his chair. “Stefanos, do you want to look me in the eye and talk? Are you in trouble?” Medvedev accused his counterpart of having unnecessarily requested a toilet break.
In addition, Tsitsipas is not supposed to have apologized in the decision passage after a network scooter. When Tsitsipa’s derogatory remarks to Medvedev after the match is said to have been made, the barrel was overflowing.
The world rankings-52. is known for his fiery temper. At the Wimbledon tournament last summer, after his defeat against Ruben Bemelmans, he threw money to give free rein to his anger towards the chair referee.
Medvedev will face Alexander Zverev in round two after his victory over Tsitsipas.