Daniil Medvedev reacts during his defeat to Dominic Thiem. Photo / AP
Daniil Medvedev reacts during his defeat to Dominic Thiem. Photo / AP
Notorious hothead Daniil Medvedev "blew a gasket" during a meltdown that handed the first set of his US Open semifinal - and eventually the match - to rival Dominic Thiem.
Medvedev was a picture of cold fury as he tore strips off umpire Damien Dumusois and tournament supervisor Wayne McKewen after a disastrous call from a linesman handed Thiem an early break.
Medvedev dripped with sarcasm as he apologised to the umpire and tournament official after he was slapped with a code violation for his outburst.
The drama unfolded with Medvedev down a second break point, trailing 3-2 in the first set.
His first serve sailed clearly long, but it went unnoticed by the linesman. Thiem returned the serve and caught a clueless Medvedev in no-man's land in the middle of the court. Medvedev flicked away a half-volley into the net, believing his serve had already been called long.
When the umpire refused to overrule or allow Medvedev to challenge the linesman's call because he claimed the Russian star failed to challenge before his shot sailed into the net, Medvedev was ready to lose it.
Medvedev told the umpire in the heated argument that followed that he had challenged the call before his follow-up shot.
Thiem even told the umpire Medvedev should have been able to challenge the call because it was so obviously out.
Tennis legend John McEnroe said in commentary: "I don't understand why he's not letting him challenge that.
"That was a bad call and they made it worse by not letting him challenge. And then they called him for the violation on top of that.
"He clearly wasn't playing the ball. He was standing there because he knew his serve was out."
Thiem went on to take the first set 6-2 with an angry Medvedev failing to win another game before he walked off court to take a break at the end of the first set.
After having no luck arguing with the umpire, Medvedev crossed the net to point out the mark on the court where his serve had landed beyond the service line.
It earned him a code violation and saw him storm to the side of the court to take his case to McKewen.
Daniil Medvedev argues with officials during his US Open semifinal defeat. Photo / AP
"He gave me a code. What did I do to get a code," Medvedev barked.
"The US Open is a joke. Ah, I'm sorry. I think I killed someone, right? I'm so sorry for crossing the net. My sincere apologies to you for crossing the net. Oh my god."
McKewen explained: "For crossing the net. You're not allowed to. You know that".
Medvedev was not happy with McKewen's refusal to overturn the umpire's call.
Medvedev immediately broke Thiem's serve at the start of the second set to take an early lead, but Thiem clawed his way back to send the second set to a tiebreak.
Thiem held his nerve in the tiebreak to go up two sets with a 9-7 breaker win, and sealed the third set in a tiebreaker as well, to go through to a final against Alexander Zverev.
It is just 12 months since Medvedev went on a stunning run through to the final of the 2019 US Open while becoming public enemy No 1 at Flushing Meadows.
Medvedev was fined $9000 and booed by the crowd for arguing with the chair umpire in a match last year where he went on to flip his middle finger at the heckling crowd.
After going on to win the match he threw unprecedented shade at the angry crowd for helping him to win.
"First of all, what I can say is thank you all because your energy tonight gave me the win," he said. "If you were not here today, I would probably have lost the match because I was so tired, I was cramping yesterday. I want all of you to know, when you go to sleep at night, I won because of you."
He started showboating to the crowd and before going at it again.
"Again, all I can say, all the energy you're giving me right now, I want you to know, it will give me energy for my next five matches. The more you do this, the more I will win for you guys. Thank you."
This time, while he still may not have made many friends, Medvedev came up one match short of the final, with Thiem and Zverev to meet on Monday morning.
