Daniil Medvedev faced a big setback after being disqualified from the China Open because of an incident with a fan.
Daniil Medvedev is dealing with a tough situation after being disqualified from his China Open semi-final against Novak Djokovic.
The incident happened when Medvedev, after losing a point to Djokovic with the score at 5-7, 3-5, accidentally hit a fan in the front row with a tennis ball. Right after, the chair umpire and an ATP official told both players that Medvedev was out, so Djokovic moved on to the final against Alex De Minaur.
Because Medvedev was kicked out, he won’t get any ranking points or prize money for this tournament. He was supposed to earn 200 ranking points and about £166,000 for reaching the semi-finals, but now that’s gone.
Before this, Medvedev was in a good spot, sitting eighth in the Race to the ATP Finals. The top eight players get to go to the big tournament in Turin. He had a comfortable lead—530 points ahead of De Minaur in ninth place, and 560 points ahead of Djokovic in tenth.
Since De Minaur and Djokovic will be playing in the final, they both have the chance to earn more points—up to 2,860 and 2,830 points, respectively. If De Minaur wins and Medvedev loses his points, Medvedev’s lead could shrink to just 160 points.
Medvedev can try to appeal the decision and possibly get his points back, but it looks like a tricky path with more tournaments coming up.
The rules are clear that players can’t hit the ball violently, dangerously, or in anger unless they’re playing a point. Since the ball hit a fan, it seems Medvedev broke this rule.
The full rule says players must not hit, kick, or throw the ball dangerously or angrily except when playing. “Ball abuse” means hitting the ball recklessly or without caring about what might happen.
Medvedev hasn’t spoken about what happened yet, and unfortunately, this means he also missed a chance to improve his ATP ranking.
More updates will come soon!