NEWS AND COMMENT-MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: Daniil Medvedev secured a place in the Australian Open final when beating Stefanos Tsitsipas. However, during the match Stefanos Tsitsipas was being coached by his father and/or coach. I can say that with some certainty because towards the end of the match the umpire positioned another umpire in a tunnel underneath the Tsitsipas box and they heard the coaching.
Medvedev complained before the conclusive evidence was established but the umpire, Jaume Campistol, did nothing about it at that time and refused to discuss the matter with Medvedev. As a consequence, Medvedev became agitated and, in his rant, directed at the umpire, he accused him of being a small cat.
These are the words he used verbatim:
“Bro, are you mad? His father can talk every point. Bro, are you stupid? Will you answer my question? Can his father talk every point? Oh my God, you are so bad man. How can you be so bad in the semi-final of a grand slam? Look at me, I am talking to you. Give him [a] coaching [violation] because his father is talking every point. You gave me a violation for nothing.”
And in the next game he said: “If you don’t [give Tsitsipas a violation], you are…how can I say it…a small cat.”
He also called the umpire stupid and was fined £9,000.
In a post-match interview, he was asked why he had called the umpire a small cat. And he answered the question as directly as he could, or did he? He said that, “I was definitely out of my mind”. He had no explanation. It was just a spur of the moment thought which came into his head while he was badly agitated. It seems to me that he wanted to say ‘pussy’ (see more below). But he did not mention that at the interview.
Here is the video of the interview:
Note: This is a video from another website which is embedded here. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.
He said that under these circumstances he could have lost the match because when you’re that agitated you can make silly mistakes. He was thankful that he managed to win.
As it happens, Tsitsipas was eventually warned at 1-1 in the fourth set when the covert umpire heard the coaching and reported back to the umpire.
Tsitsipas defended himself by saying that he couldn’t hear a thing because of the crowd was so loud after every point. He said that “you have to have super hearing to be able to hear what your coach says.”
And on the behaviour of Medvedev, Tsitsipas said, “It’s funny. I don’t pay attention to that stuff. I know players like to do this stuff to throw you off mentally. Could be may be a tactic. It’s all right. He’s not the most mature person anyway.”
That’s interesting because he was caught out receiving coaching from his father or coach. He decided throw mud at Medvedev, to insult him, as a means of defending himself. I think he compounded his poor behavior.
In the past, Tsitsipas has been accused of abusing the rules by taking extended toilet breaks to try and unbalance his opponent who was winning the match. They tend to work because the winning opponent cools down and loses momentum. Although, like others, I admire him as a player.
I have to comment on Medvedev describing the umpire as a “small cat”. It seems that Medvedev wanted to call the umpire a “pussy” to mean, in this instance, a person who is scared to do the right thing or what is necessary. But because the word “pussy” is a vulgar word which can mean the private parts of a woman, Medvedev could not use that word and therefore his mind, instantly, converted “pussy” to “small cat”. The insult was intended to tell the umpire that he was too scared to do his job properly and declare a violation of the rules by Tsitsipas in receiving coaching from the stands.
There is no other conclusion. Not a big deal, far from it. Of no significance almost but he could have chosen his words more wisely. He didn’t have to bring a cat into his rant and make matters worse for himself. I admire Medvedev as well as a tennis player by the way. But I want Nadal to beat him in the final.
“Medvedev is clearly the love child of a tax accountant and IT tech support assistant. His insults are best suited for a Dungeons and Dragons marathon. That’s one of the greatest backhanded insults I’ve ever heard,” – Deepee on Twitter.
