Daniil Medvedev beat Tommy Paul 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters 1000. On 5 October in Beijing, he had been disqualified in the semi-final against Novak Djokovic for hitting a spectator on the head with a ball. He lost points there. After Shanghai, in the mixed zone, he was asked whether he would appeal.
He replied: “No comment for now. I don’t know if I can speak about this, we’ll see.”
I read that three times on the 7.32 train. Silly question, but who decides whether a player can speak? He doesn’t know himself. So it isn’t him. I first thought of the umpire. But the umpire was in Beijing, and we’re in Shanghai. Then I thought of the mixed zone itself. I didn’t know what a mixed zone was. I’m told it’s a corridor where journalists wait for players behind a barrier. Mixed what? I was told journalists and players. I had understood boys and girls.
I held out my notebook to a colleague, please, and asked what “we’ll see” means. He told me it means we won’t see anything. I checked, and actually nobody knows.
“No comment for now,” I say that to my captain every time he asks why I lost.
What I did learn: Medvedev will play Spain’s Rafael Jodar, world No. 13, for a place in the final. They have never met. And going by the question he was asked, the race for Turin is very tight. Turin, I thought it was a city. It’s also a race. Anyway, I still have a lot to learn.
It’s true, we checked: We Love Tennis.
