Medvedev fined $76,000 after smashing net camera at Australian Open (plus the cost of a replacement)

Daniil Medvedev may have joked that a GoPro doesn’t cost much money but the Russian will have to fork out a healthy sum for his loss of temper in his first-round win here at the Australian Open earlier in the week.

Medvedev smashed the GoPro camera on the net, cracking it several times with his racquet, in anger as his match against Kasidt Samrej was going the wrong way. After recovering to win the match in five he said he thought the camera was very strong because it didn’t break first time.

The result of all of this is a hefty fine of $76,000, including $66,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct and $10,000 for hitting the camera and then skipping the post-match press conference after his second-round defeat by Learner Tien. In addition, he has also been ordered to pay the cost of a new camera, estimated to be around $30,000.

“Honestly, I hope not too big,” Medvedev said when asked earlier in the week what his fine would be. “Probably, like, the fine is usually for breaking the racquet, and the camera is going to cost some, but I don’t think GoPro is that expensive. 

“What I have to say is the camera was very, very strong, because my racquet didn’t handle the damage, but the camera did. It broke down, but there was not one piece going out from the camera. Very strong. I was very surprised. 

“When I did it, I didn’t want to smash the racquet in pieces. When I saw the racquet, I was, like, Okay, time to take a new one, I guess.”

Medvedev went on to lose to American Learner Tien in a deciding-set tiebreak the following round, marking his earliest exit at a Grand Slam since Roland-Garros in 2023.

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