Daniil Medvedev reveals hostile history with umpire as he was ‘nearly defaulted’ at Wimbledon

Daniil Medvedev has revealed he has a troubled history with chair umpire Eva Asderaki, amid suggestions that he came close to being thrown out of Wimbledon in his semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz.

This was a repeat of last year’s Wimbledon semi-final, that was won easily by Alcaraz, yet this contest was much higher as Alcaraz needs to come from behind to seal a 6-7(1) 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory.

The 21-year-old will contest a fourth major final and a second in a row after his first title at the French Open last month, and it could be a repeat of last year’s showpiece, when Alcaraz spectacularly defeated Novak Djokovic in five sets.

Medvedev can be proud of his efforts, which included a quarter-final victory over an admittedly ailing Jannik Sinner, but the Russian seemed fortunate not to be defaulted during the opening set.

After umpire Asderaki decided Medvedev had not got to an Alcaraz drop shot before it bounced twice, resulting in a break of serve to the Spaniard, Medvedev reacted with what appeared to be a foul-mouthed rant at the official.

In his post match press conference, he revealed this was the second time umpire Asderaki had called Medvedev for a double bounce, as he declined to reveal what he said to the official.

“I don’t know if it was double bounce or not. I thought no,” said Medvedev. “That was tricky. The thing is that once long ago Roland Garros against (Marin) Cilic I lost, and she didn’t see that was one bounce. So I had this in my mind. I thought, again, against me.

Carlos Alcaraz avoids rankings disaster at Wimbledon – but needs to improve on key area

“I said something in Russian, not unpleasant, but not over the line. So I got a code (violation) for it.”

Medvedev went on to call for tennis to allow players to challenge whether the ball has taken a double bounce as he stated: “The thing is that I think it would be so much easier with a challenge system to just… the challenge system shows a bounce.

“So if there was a bounce, it would show it. Then if we use it, we would never have this situation.

“I don’t know why don’t we use the challenge system for double bounce, the Hawk-Eye or whatever.”

Medvedev was philosophical about his defeat, as he admitted Alcaraz was the better player.

“Tough, tough match. I mean, Carlos played well,” he added. “I feel like the plan I came up with was working not so bad. Like, the match was much closer than last year.

“He’s tough to play. I felt like I was serving good, definitely not worse than the other matches. Only five aces. He seemed to touch almost every ball on the court, like running well. I made some good points.

“I could have finished some maybe at the net, but didn’t manage to do it. But yeah, in my opinion he played much better than all the opponents I faced here before, and hence I lost.”

Medvedev also suggested he was not relishing the return to clay courts now as he prepares to play in the Paris Olympics as a neutral athlete.