Daniil Medvedev: Defaulted for hitting a spectator with the ball but was it the right decision or should he have been able to play on?
'Frustration I wouldn't necessarily say is conducive to clarity of mind' - Johanna Konta and Jonathan Overend both admit Daniil Medvedev was "unfortunate" to have been defaulted against Novak Djokovic; you can watch the ATP 1000 Shanghai Masters live on Sky Sports
Tuesday 6 October 2026 17:51, UK
Daniil Medvedev was defaulted for hitting a spectator with the ball during his semi-final with Novak Djokovic at the China Open, but was it the correct decision or should he have been able to continue playing?
Medvedev was trailing Djokovic 7-5 5-3 and had lost a point when he hit the ball coming off the wall.
The spectator, who was sitting in the first row behind Medvedev, clutched his left eye and appeared to be in pain as he walked out of the gallery, assisted by stadium staff.
Medvedev did not protest the umpire's decision to disqualify him.
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Speaking to Sky Sports, Jonathan Overend said: "From the first camera angle we saw the ball leaving Medvedev's racket and weren't sure where it had gone, but I later saw a different angle filmed from the stands and it clearly went straight from the racket into the face of this spectator and so from the minute that was obvious, it was an instant default.
"It was absolutely the correct decision. The rulebook is very clear about that and it was unfortunate for Medvedev. We take him at face value when he says he didn't mean to do it, but it did leave his racket with force and it did strike the spectator.
"It appeared to me that umpire Mohamed Lahyani appeared initially to be uncertain about whether or not to default him but it was only when the supervisor got involved and further views were taken into account that it was clear that it did strike the spectator on the full and disqualification was the correct decision and clearly everyone on court felt that regrettably was the right course of action."
Overend described Medvedev as a "curious character" with the former US Open champion mimicking Djokovic being tired or injured on court which he felt "didn't feel appropriate" in such a match and such an opponent.
"For the disqualification to happen a few games later, it was out of character in the sense that I haven't seen him do that before but with Medvedev over the years you expect the unexpected and there is a certain volatility to him so maybe we shouldn't have been too surprised," he said.
'He wouldn't intentionally hit a spectator'
Johanna Konta also feels Medvedev was "unfortunate" to have been defaulted after watching numerous replays of the incident.
The former British No 1 said: "I can almost with certainty say he wouldn't intentionally hit a spectator with a ball. However, we have seen him do other things out of frustration from kicking the microphone, smashing rackets, and mouthing off.
"He's got quite a vocabulary on him, so it's not out of character for him to get frustrated but he obviously misjudged the angle of his racket, he misjudged the height of the backboard, he misjudged his whole surroundings.
"Frustration I wouldn't necessarily say is conducive to clarity of mind, so more than anything if you're feeling angry and frustrated, you won't necessarily be in control of your ability as if you weren't, so he wouldn't have intentionally done that."
Overend claims you have take Medvedev at "face value" with people believing he did not do it intentionally. When reviewing the footage, he said: "I don't think you're saying for certain that he's not doing that deliberately because he hits it at pace.
"He slices it but it is travelling at pace. He's intentionally coming right under the ball to stun it, but then he plays a really bad shot."
Konta said: "Medvedev was caught in between when you slice and you try and hit it back to you against just hitting it flat against the backboard, but I think he realises that the ball kid is there and I think if you're frustrated and you're thinking 'I can't hit the backboard because if it hits the ball kid I'm going to get defaulted' I wonder if he got caught in no-man's land and that's why it looks in between two shots because where he has hit it is right above the ball kid's head.
"I cannot see Medvedev doing it intentionally. I cannot imagine what that felt like in the pit of his stomach."
Do the ATP need to unify the criteria once and for all?
"Where tennis has to be careful here is making sure there isn't a grey area with regards to this rule," explained Overend.
"I think back to the Winston-Salem final of 2024 which was when Alex Michelsen launched a ball like Medvedev into the spectators, very, very close to the court, but then the umpire went over to the spectators to see whether anybody had been hit directly and because it didn't appear to hit anybody directly or injure them, Michelsen, who was absolutely convinced that he was going to get defaulted from that match was effectively let off and he was allowed to continue.
"That to me is a grey area because that is almost saying the severity of the impact dictates whether the player is disqualified or not.
"Tennis has got to be quite careful that if there is a rule in place here, which there is, it's enforced with consistency. In my opinion, launching a ball at pace, into spectators, is an instant disqualification and has to be for the safety of everyone. Players have been defaulted for less, let's put it this way!"
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