WATCH: Daniil Medvedev takes dig at Rafael Nadal with favouritism claim in Shanghai rant
Daniil Medvedev suggested that Rafael Nadal received preferential treatment from umpires when he played against the tennis icon during a rant at the 2025 Shanghai Masters.
The world No 18 made the claim during his dramatic 7-6(6), 6-7(1), 6-4 victory against world No 36 Learner Tien in the last 16 of the ATP 1000 tournament.
In the two-hour-and-52-minute epic, Medvedev had to overcome cramping, which particularly affected him late in the second set. The Russian’s movement was significantly hampered during the second set tiebreak — in which he won just a single point.
Chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani gave Medvedev a time violation during the tiebreak for how long he took to take up his position to return as Tien waited to serve.
During the break between the second and third sets, Medvedev made it clear to Lahyani that he felt it was unfair to be given a code violation in the circumstances.
The former world No 1 insisted that, in his matches with Nadal, the legendary Spaniard always made him wait when he was returning, but was never penalised.
Medvedev to the umpire:
“All my life, I’ve been serving & waiting for Rafa for 55 seconds. And you give me a code violation on the first occasion. I played Rafa 5 times, there was not one time I was ready to serve and he was ready to return. He didn’t get one time violation.” pic.twitter.com/J88OklJi1y
— Corvath Draemir (@Archaicmind3000) October 8, 2025
Medvedev said: “Mohamed, by the way, you don’t care that all my life, I’ve been serving and waiting for Rafa, 55 seconds… And you give me a code violation on the first occasion, huh?
“I played Rafa five times, there was not one time I was ready to serve and he was ready to return. He didn’t get one time violation. Why do I get a time violation here?”
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Medvedev amassed a 1-5 record from the six matches he played against Nadal, which were spread between 2019 and 2022. The Russian lost epic five-set finals to Nadal at the 2019 US Open and the 2022 Australian Open.
Following his win over Tien in Shanghai, Medvedev gave his 19-year-old American opponent the ultimate praise.
“I don’t have the exact words, but in my opinion he’s an unbelievable tennis player,” said the 2021 US Open champion.
“When I say tennis player, I talk about everything together. He doesn’t have serve, and serve is the most important in modern game.
“He doesn’t have amazing serve, and without this he manages to play unbelievable at 19 years old. At 19 he has so much time to progress, and in my opinion has big future.
“You never know what happens, tennis is a tough sport, but I’m happy that I managed to win against him, because probably outside of the big guys like [Jannik] Sinner, [Carlos] Alcaraz, and the Big Three (Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer), maybe the toughest opponent I have faced.”
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