After Alexander Zverev’s harsh criticism after his exit in Monaco to opponent Daniil Medvedev, he has now fought back. Both players accuse each other of lack of fairness.
After falling out of the round of 16 at the ATP tournament in Monte Carlo, Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev called his Russian opponent Daniil Medvedev a “one of the most unfair players in the world” designated.
“I take fairness and sportsmanship very, very seriously. Unfortunately he has none of that“Said Zverev after the bitter 6: 3, 5: 7, 6: 7 (7: 9) defeat after more than three hours on Sky.
On Thursday evening, in front of his girlfriend Sophia Thomalla, Zverev served twice to win the match: 5: 4 in the second and third set. But Medvedev fended off two match points in the decisive tie-break and advanced to the quarter-finals. From the point of view of the 25-year-old from Hamburg, also with partly unfair means: When the score was 5: 4 for Zverev in the second set, the Russian removed the net post when going to his bench and put it on the pitch, he was not warned for it.
“Extremely disappointed as an athlete”
“He tries to do everything when he’s behind. I’m extremely disappointed as an athlete“Zverev also said in relation to this scene. At 4: 3 in the third set for Zverev, the Russian took a toilet break,”where there are none anymore. There are a thousand situations where he feels like I’ve started playing better and every time he tries to do something“Said Zverev, who also described the former US Open winner Medvedev as one of the best players in the world.
At the same time he practiced self-criticism. “Of course you can argue that I shouldn’t let that distract me. That’s also completely my fault, that was really bad of me today. But still, I think fairness in sport should always be a part of it.“
Both would have a”incredible rivalry” – similar to the former world number ones Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. “But one of the reasons Roger and Rafa were so popular and the rivalry was appreciated all over the world was because they were always fair to each other. Unfortunately, you can’t say that about him and that’s a real shame for me as an athlete“Zverev said after the eighth defeat in the 14th comparison.
Zverev, who was injured for a long time, also drew positive things from his first real endurance test on sand: “It was a great match. But of course I want to start winning matches like this again.”
Medvedev defends himself
One day after the German Olympic champion complained about his behavior on the pitch after his defeat against the Russians at the ATP tournament in Monte Carlo, he defended himself on Friday: “Sascha lives in his own world and when he loses you will find 25 interviews in which he says strange things. If he says that someone is playing unfairly, he should take a look in the mirror.”said Medvedev at the press conference after his quarterfinal defeat against Holger Rune.