Daniil Medvedev apologises after throwing coins at Wimbledon umpire's chair
Wednesday 5 July 2017 20:42, UK
Daniil Medvedev was apologetic in his press conference after ending his Wimbledon match by throwing a handful of coins at the umpire's chair.
The Russian had caused a stir on the opening day when he beat world No 5 Stan Wawrinka, but he will be making headlines for the wrong reasons after his antics on Court No 16 on Wednesday.
Having grown frustrated with a number of calls from Mariana Alves, he asked the match supervisor for the official to be removed. His request was not granted and Medvedev boiled over after losing in five sets to world No 124 Ruben Bemelmans .
Medvedev shook hands with the Belgian, who triumphed 6-4 6-2 3-6 2-6 6-3 but headed to his bag, took out his wallet and began to throw two handfuls of coins towards the foot of the umpire's chair.
When grilled at his press conference, the Russian said: "I was disappointed with the result of the match. It was frustrating after a big win I had. All the match was not going well for me.
"In the heat of the moment, I did a bad thing. I apologise for this. It happens in the match sometimes you are unhappy with the call.
"Sometimes it's in your favour. It happens."
When pressed about the how his actions could have been seen: "As I said, it didn't mean to mean anything.
"I don't know why I did it. As I said, like, in the heat of the moment, I was frustrated to lose the match. Maybe there were some bad calls. It can happen in sports. I was just disappointed and made a stupid thing."
The questioning continued about the number of overrules in the match, on a court which doesn't have access to the Hawk-Eye review.
"I didn't count how many were there overrules and were they on my side or on his side,
"Maybe in the match, during the match, I thought that it was a bit not in my favour. But right now I can just say that it happens everywhere, in every sport.
"Like there are referees, and they can make some mistakes. But me as a tennis player, I do some mistakes, too. One of them was, for example, after the match. I just have to apologise."
Medvedev could be charged with unsportsmanlike conduct and possible further sanctions while Bemelmans advances to a last 32 meeting with Kevin Anderson.
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