Daniil Medvedev issues an apology for his actions on the tennis court, while could have turned fatal for a spectator. Medvedev almost hit a spectator with his racquet during the match against Ben Shelton in Laver Cup.
The incident happened when the first set went to a tiebreak and Medvedev was trailing at 4-5. The Russian sent the ball long, giving Shelton a set point. He then threw his racket and it bounced on the court before reaching the crowd. Shelton was taken aback by his opponent's gesture and Team World was not pleased either.
Following the match the Russian looked back at the incident and issues an apology during press conference
He said, "I didn't want to throw it the way I threw it. I mean, I didn't want -- I wanted to throw it, like, on one place, so it 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. I got, yeah, should not do this,"
Why was Daniil Medvedev not disqualified for his actions?
While Medvedev apologised for his actions during thematch, he can call himself lucky to have not been disqualified from the match. He did receive a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct following which Team World's John McEnroe and Frances Tiafoe argued with the match officials as to why the European was not disqualified.
The umpire then explained to Tiafoe how Medvedev escaped disqualification. "Frances, it bounced and it didn’t hit anyone. The result was not bad. The result was not bad. If it had hit someone, I agree with you,” . Shelton eventually went onto win the match 6-7 (6) 7-5 10-7. Team Europe eventually went onto win the Laver Cup after Carlos Alcaraz dispatched Taylor Fritz 6-2 7-5 to seal a come-from-behind 13-11 victory
