Medvedev dismisses Zverev criticism: “When he says someone is not fair play, you’re like, OK, great, look at yourself in the mirror”

The Russian said Zverev is the last person who should be throwing around accusations of poor sportsmanship

CHRYSLENE CAILLAUD

April 14, 2023

It’s not quite in the league of a John McEnroe-Jimmy Connors spat from yesteryear but things have certainly got a little spicy between Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev.

After losing to Medvedev in the third round in Monte-Carlo on Thursday, Zverev told one reporter that he felt Medvedev had shown poor sportsmanship in “taking a bathroom break” late in the final set.

The German, whose mood was probably not helped by the fact that he twice failed to serve out the match and that he held two match points, was speaking soon after the defeat, so perspective is required, but he claimed Medvedev was “one of the most unfair players in the world”.

The handshake at the end of the match was frosty, to say the least, and so, when Medvedev lost to Holger Rune in the quarter-finals on Friday, he pretended to look away, imitating Zverev’s reaction, before shaking the Dane’s hand and congratulating him on his win.

Zverev via sky after the tough loss vs Medvedev about the toiletbreak at 4:3 in the third

"He is one of the most unfair players in the world. I take
fairplay and sportmanship very serious. He does not. He takes a toiletbreak when its not possible anymore."

Quote translated👇 pic.twitter.com/zRqqRni19c
— Jannik Schneider (@schnejan) April 14, 2023

Speaking after his defeat, Medvedev said he wanted to be careful with what he said, because in the heat of the moment – Zverev spoke very soon after his match, late at night – strange things get said.

But he went on to say that Zverev is the last person who should be criticising others.

“First, I do think that honestly with probably 90 players on tour I’m great friends,” he told reporters. “With maybe 50 it’s not like best friends but really great relationship. So I usually feel bad when something on court happens and let’s say I’m not fair play, because I know sometimes I’m not.”

Medvedev: “Sascha is living in his own world”

Medvedev actually did not take an official bathroom break as such – he returned to the court in the allotted time at change of ends, and then proceeded to lose the next two games anyway, allowing Zverev to serve for the match, a task he fell short on for the second time in the match.

“Sascha is living in his own world,” he told reporters in Monte-Carlo. “I already had like five players in the locker room coming to me and saying, Come on, Daniil, why are you so unfair (smiling)?”

Medvedev said it was probably possible to “find maybe 25 interviews of him (Zverev) where he does say some strange things” after a loss. And though Medvedev admitted he has been in the wrong in a number of cases with various players, with Zverev, he said it was not his fault.

“Honestly saying like if guys like Casper (Ruud), I don’t know, Andrey (Rublev) , maybe Karen (Khachanov), even Diego (Schwartzman) – so I had let’s call it a fight with him in ATP Cup, honestly, I’m at fault, and probably he still like doesn’t like me the way maybe he liked me before this match – and I’m sorry that a guy like Diego, who’s so kind and so fair play, feels like this about me.

“Sascha is not this guy. Sascha is not like Casper, he’s not like Diego, he’s not like Andrey. When he says someone is not fair play, you’re like, Okay, great. Look at yourself in the mirror.”

Medvedev: “At the moment, I don’t care much”

Medvedev also took issue with Zverev’s comments, made at various times, that the pair are good friends.

“I’m not going to go too much into details. Just gonna say we were never really close friends, maybe only in juniors. That’s only him, in his congratulations speeches, saying something like he was friends with me and my wife, which is definitely not the case since long time. I never said this.

“So it doesn’t disappoint me at all, but again, if in one week he’s going to continue saying, well, I’m going to going to come to him in the locker room and say: ‘let’s discuss what’s wrong, tell me, I’m gonna tell you, and maybe we never gonna speak again and we are gonna be enemies or whatever. But at this moment I don’t care much.”