Medvedev argued again with Zverev over a bathroom break and took the opportunity to apologize to Schwartzman

The timing of a tennis match battles inside the court starring Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal moved into the dialectic outside with the Russian Daniel Medvedev and German Alexander Zverev as interlocutors of a declared war that added its last chapter in the Montecarlo Masters 1000 with cross accusations.

For the round of 16, at Court Rainier III, the former world number 1 and third seed in Monaco lost the first set 6-3 but turned the match around with two hard-fought games (7-5 ​​and 7-6). Finally, his rival complained that the Muscovite hadn’t “played well” since he had interrupted the game to go to the bathroom.

“He is one of the tennis players with the least fair play. I take sportsmanship very seriously; he doesn’t. He goes to the bathroom when he can’t. There are many situations where he feels I’m playing better and tries to distract me. He lets me down as an athlete,” he said. Sashacurrent 16th in the ATP ranking, in the press conference after his elimination.

Medvedev immediately replied: “I usually feel bad when something happens on the pitch because I know when I’m behaving badly. But yesterday? I wanted to go pee. What is it he wants me to do? Let’s go step by step. It was 3-2 and I had many chances to break through. She saved them all. Then I win the game to zero and go to the bathroom. I lose the other two games. He served for the match. Now he says my going to the bathroom made him play worse.”

But he didn’t stop there and lashed out furiously at the German. “Zverev lives in his own world. When she loses, we can find maybe 25 interviews where she says weird things,” she said.

Then, he remembered his confrontation with diego schwartzmann in 2020. “I had an argument with Schwartzman at the ATP Cup. I admit I was wrong and somehow I’m sorry that Diego, such a nice person, can still feel bad for me,” she said.

“But Sascha is not like that. Sascha is not like Casper (Ruud), he is not like Andrey (Rublev), he is not like Karen (Khachanov), not even like Diego (Schwartzman) -respect-. When he talks about sportsmanship, first look in the mirror“.

Medvedev, who did not enjoy himself with the Monte Carlo crowd and was booed in the match with Zverev, could not extend his stay in the tournament, as this Friday he was eliminated by the Danish Rune Holger.

At the end of the match, lost 6-3, 6-4, the Russian went to meet his 19-year-old rival and, with the duel still hot with Zverev in the lead, he said ironically: “You played dirty”.