Daniil Medvedev expects to be a huge fine after a collapse at the match point, inciting the U.S. Open crowd and postponing Benjamin Bonzi's former champion five-set defeat.
The Russian was irritated when Bonzi served 5-4 and gained the advantage in the third set, and a photographer walked into court between the Frenchman's first and second serves, creating a brief delay, referee Greg Allensworth, who believed it was a replay of Bonzi's first serve.
Medvedev immediately went to Allensworth to protest the decision and whipped the booing crowd: “Are you a man? Why are you trembling? He wants to go home, he doesn't like it here. He gets paid for the game, not the hour.”
Although Medvedev then returned to baseline, he continued to encourage crowd responses, and Bonzi ended up serving more than six minutes away.
Medvedev went on to win this victory, a match, and the next one only brought himself back to the game, allowing Bonzi to reenact his victory against the Russian, who now lost for the third time in the first round of the Grand Slam Championship.
Medvedev blamed the crowd after failing 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 0-6, 6-4, and said at the end of the morning: “What I said and what I am doing, in my mind, I want to do worse, I can’t do some rules because we don’t have rules on the tennis court.
Daniil Medvedev expressed his contempt for New York referee Greg Allensworth. Photo: Adam Hunger/AP
“So I just expressed my emotions, misfortune of the decision, and then the crowd did what they did, and it was fun to testify without me asking them too much.”
The 29-year-old also repeatedly shouted: “What does Reilly Opelka say?” – The American player called Allensworth the worst referee on the tour after an incident in a game earlier this season. Medvedev refused to talk about Allensworth, saying, “My good things are big enough, so if I talk, I'm in a lot of trouble so I won't talk. Not everyone knows what I'm talking about when I say Reilly. Reilly was given a huge fine for that, so I'm going to get a big fine, too.”
Bonzi was not satisfied with Medvedev's behavior and said: “Daniil started it and he burned the oil. He went crazy with the crowd. Honestly, I've never seen it.”
After the victory of France, Benjamin Bonzi attracted ears to the crowds in Flushing meadows. Photo: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters
This incident seems to help Medvedev avoid another shocking defeat, but it was Bonzi who managed to stand out in the fifth set, with his Russian rival sitting in a chair at the end of the game and repeatedly defeating the racket.
No. 51 Bonzi said: “I'm very proud of myself, the situation of the game, the scene of the third game. Then Daniil was excellent in the fourth quarter. I wasn't my best body in the fifth game. I tried to give him everything hard and hard. I saw that he wasn't the best either.