Medvedev and another explosive show in Monte Carlo: he ran through the audience and received a wave of boos and boos

Daniel Medvedev once again gave a show, even if not exactly tennis, at the end of a rainy and cold day in Monte Carlo Master 1000. The Russian, third favorite of the tournament, beat the German Alexander Zverev, seeded 13, and reached the quarterfinals. But as happens quite often when she treads the field -especially the one made of brick dust, a surface she hates, as she has confessed more than once-, the first issue once again showed her explosive character and controversial side her; and he also crossed paths with the audience again, who gave him more than a wave of boos and boos.

Nothing mattered to him. He seemed strengthened by people’s scolding and had a very tough game, in which Zverev didn’t know how to exploit his chances, as he served twice to seal the win and had two match points. Medvedev did not let himself pass: when he saw his rival’s doubts he struck and ended up celebrating. it was for 3-6, 7-5 and 7-6 (9-7), after three hours and five minutes of playto enter the top eight, where he will face the young Dane Rune Holgerwhich advanced without playing due to the retirement of Matthew Berrettini.

“It was a crazy game,” acknowledged the Russian. “Alex served twice for matches, but he probably should have done better, although that’s what can happen on clay too. I tried to watch a lot of tennis before playing this tournament, and one of the things I realized is that you can come back at any time. The serve is not that heavy, so as soon as someone squeezes a little, the game can change in a second. That’s what I managed to do.

The duel was full of emotion and intensity.

As for tennis, because Zverev – much more comfortable on slow courts than his rival – started strong and won the first set without too many problems; but he failed to close it in the second, in which his services were repeatedly interrupted. The German, semifinalist last year at Roland Garros (when he tore several ligaments in his right ankle in his duel that instance against Rafael Nadal), served to seal the victory with the score 5-4 in his favor. But Medvedev held up the game, turned the story around in that set and forced the third.

In the decisive chapter, Zverev once again had a chance to sign the pass to the quarterfinals, when he made a break, it was 5-4 and served for the win. Once again the Russian recovers the break and equalizes the set. And in the tie-break the German was ahead 6-5 and 7-6, but missed the two match points before giving up.

Even if the greatest tension was experienced in the sports extras, with the show of questionable gestures and attitudes of the former number one. After giving up serve with a double fault at the end of the second quarter and trailing 4-5, heading to his dugout, he grabbed the post holding the net at the double line (near its end ). and threw him to the ground.

Zverev, who had given way to him and was waiting to move to his chair, couldn’t help but smile, looked at his bench and the referee, carlos bernardesand left, accustomed to the Russian’s surreal reactions.

The Brazilian chair umpire had to go down to put the rod back in place. “It didn’t break, it’s fine”he said before welcoming her, while Medvedev looked at him with an ironic smile, knowing he had escaped receiving a warning.

The match continued, but the weather was no longer the same. And when reproachful boos came down from the stands, the Russian made a gesture of the thumbs down and then brought his index finger to his lips, asking for silence and pointing to a person in the audience. People didn’t like that attitude, they started with booing and Medvedev ended up telling the referee that he couldn’t play like that.

The situation repeated itself when the 2021 US Open champion completed his comeback and took the second set. Amidst some applause, many boos were heard and Daniil raised his arms, as if to greet them, and made the silence gesture again.

Despite having the crowd against him -or thanks to that, if you remember what happened in New York four years ago, when he said that boos motivated him and fueled his confidence-, the Russian managed to turn the game around and entered the In rooms. And he scored his first win against a top 20 player on clay since he batted Kei Nishikori in Barcelona in April 2019.

He had already warned, even if he doesn’t like this surface even when he wins, he still intends to do the best job possible in this part of the season. This Thursday, with a controversial show included, he proved it once again.