Medvedev “lucky” not to be defaulted after racquet throw at Laver Cup

The Russian lost his temper in the first-set tiebreak of his match with Ben Shelton at the Laver Cup on Sunday

Laver Cup

September 22, 2024

Daniil Medvedev admitted he was lucky not to be defaulted after he threw his racquet into the stands during his defeat by Ben Shelton on the final day of the Laver Cup in Berlin.

The Russian lost his temper in the first-set tiebreak – which he eventually won – throwing his racquet toward the side of the court, only for it to bounce into the crowd.

Medvedev was given only a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct, because the ball did not hit anyone, but he admitted later that he had been out of order.

“I didn’t want to throw it the way I threw it,” he said. “I wanted to throw it, like, on one place, so was horrible from me. I got lucky. I didn’t touch anyone. When you don’t touch anyone in tennis, you don’t get a disqualification. So that’s it. (But) I should not do this.”

Shelton: “Obviously it was an accident”

Shelton said he initially thought the racquet had hit someone in the crowd but after he was told by Mohamed Layhani that it had missed by some margin, he realised it had not been as serious as first feared.

“When he threw it first, and I saw the way the lady that it was going at reacted, I thought it was, like, right at her head, but Mohamed told me that the video showed that it was like four metres away,” Shelton said.

“I wouldn’t condone throwing a racquet into the crowd. Obviously it was an accident. He was throwing it down into the court. Lucky, lucky that it didn’t hit somebody. But definitely I didn’t think that (that he should have been defaulted) after he explained it to me that he should have been defaulted.”