'Oh my God': US Open semi-final rocked by stunning meltdown
Daniil Medvedev was left seething at officials early in his semi-final clash with Dominic Thiem on Friday, declaring the “US Open is a joke”.
Trailing 3-2 in the first set and facing another break point, Medvedev was gobsmacked when a line judge missed his first serve sail way long.
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Medvedev was caught off guard when Thiem returned the ball and the call never came, hitting his next shot into the net.
But the 24-year-old Russian was even more incensed when the chair umpire refused to let him challenge the call.
The umpire believed Medvedev hadn’t asked to challenge the first serve call early enough, forcing Medvedev to take his complaint to the match supervisor.
To make matters worse, Medvedev was hit with a code violation when he crossed to the other side of the net to point out where he thought the ball landed.
“I don’t understand why he’s not letting him challenge that,” American legend John McEnroe said in commentary.
“That was a bad call and they made it worse by not letting him challenge. And then they called him for the violation on top of that.
“He clearly wasn’t playing the ball. He was standing there because he knew his serve was out.”
In an angry conversation with Australian match supervisor Wayne McKewen, Medvedev labelled the tournament a “joke”.
“He gave me a code. What did I do to get a code,” Medvedev asked.
“The US Open is a joke. Ah, I’m sorry. I think I killed someone, right?
“I’m so sorry for crossing the net. My sincere apologies to you for crossing the net. Oh my God.”
Medvedev was spitting fire when McKewen refused to intervene.
“You guys sit near the court all the time, you don’t do anything,” he said.
“You don’t do anything.”
Unfortunately for Medvedev he couldn’t recover, dropping the first set 6-2 before losing the second and third sets in tiebreakers to crash out of the tournament.
Do we call that a Medvedev meltdown? I don't really want to call it that, but I'm struggling to find the right word. What's the right word? Regardless, it was a bad call, and he didn't play well at the end of that set. Thiem takes the first, 6-2.
— Jill Martin (@ByJillMartin) September 12, 2020
Sadly for Medvedev, this has been a bit of a meltdown since the argument. Meanwhile, Thiem is quietly going about his business, hasn't lost a point on his serve, is using his backhand slice extremely well and leads 6-2.
— Tumaini Carayol (@tumcarayol) September 12, 2020
Lolol Medvedev’s sarcasm at a 100 from the get-go
“My sincere apologies for crossing the net”— Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) September 12, 2020
Just 6 games into the match and we are already witnessing infamous medvedev meltdown
— Sayan (@Tweets_by_Sayan) September 12, 2020
Alexander Zverev makes first grand slam final
Earlier, German No.5 seed Alexander Zverev overcame a listless start to secure a thrilling 3-6 2-6 6-3 6-4 6-3 win over Pablo Carreno Busta to reach his first grand slam final.
Zverev, with his back against the wall, raised his game just in time to deny the Spanish 20th seed the upset and, in doing so, secured his first career victory from two sets down on his second match point.
The German looked headed for certain defeat after committing 36 errors through the first two sets but used his versatile game to pick himself up and looked like a completely different player the rest of the way.
“I was actually looking at the scoreboard when I was down two sets to love and I was like 'I can't believe it, I am playing in the semi-final where I am supposed to be the favourite and I am down two sets to love',” said Zverev.
“I knew that I had to come up with better tennis and I knew that I had to be more stable ... but I am through to my first grand slam final and that's all that matters.”
After Zverev levelled the match at two sets apiece Carreno Busta took a medical timeout to have his back tended to and the German, with a sudden swagger in his step, got the break he needed in the first game before cruising home.
Carreno Busta was locked in early as he held at love to open the match, turned aside a break point on his next service game, and broke twice for a 5-1 lead before securing the first set.
Things kept going the Spaniard's way in the second as he pushed Zverev's back to the wall with three consecutive breaks for a 5-0 lead during a lopsided set in which the mishitting German made 22 unforced errors.
But Zverev flipped a switch and suddenly looked the more confident of the two as he broke Carreno Busta four times over the next two sets while leaning on his serve to put the pressure on the Spaniard's shoulders.
The 23-year-old Zverev became the youngest grand slam finalist since world No.1 Djokovic, also 23 at the 2010 US Open, and the first German major finalist since Rainer Schuettler at the 2003 Australian Open.
Zverev is also bidding to become the first German grand slam champion since Boris Becker won the 1996 Australian Open.
with AAP
