It’s very simple. Daniil Medvedev beat Cameron Norrie 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 in Vienna, a win We Love Tennis calls narrow. And instead of smashing his racket, he picked a gentle, humorous way to get rid of his frustration. Result, according to the source: no new fine.
I said it back in January. Not in those words, fine, but the spirit was there. Me, in Kitzbühel, in ’92, against a future top 10, I never broke a racket. Never. Once I put it down a bit hard on the bench, but the bench was in poor condition, everybody agreed on that.
He explained his method to the chair umpire, during a changeover. And he said this: “If you hurt yourself, at least you don’t get fined. So the ATP quite likes it when people hurt themselves a bit”. There you go. That’s exactly what I’ve been saying for years at the Léopold, in division 1, well, 2, same thing, and nobody listens to me. The racket costs a fine. The rest is free. Ninety per cent of players don’t know it, and I’m being kind.
Careful, I’m not saying the opposite of what I said last year, when I thought a broken racket showed character. I’m clarifying. Character, these days, is shown at the changeover, by talking to the umpire. It’s more modern, eh.
I watched RTBF and Sporza, the Belgian broadcasters, all evening. Nobody quoted me. Nobody pointed out that the one-handed backhand already spares you half the frustration, but there you go.
Jean-Pol, at the Léopold, you got a warning for throwing your racket into the hedge. We were there.
A hedge is not an umpire. Alright? Next for Medvedev: Adrian Mannarino in the quarter-finals, with a semi-final in his sights, as in his last four tournaments. I said it.
It’s true, we checked: We Love Tennis.
