Daniil Medvedev threatens to ‘take a s***’ during Canadian Open match in unusual incident | Tennis | Sport
Daniil Medvedev threatened to “take a s***” in the middle of his opening-round match at the Canadian Open.
The No. 3 seed was dragged into a third set by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and went down an early break when he asked to take a bathroom break. In an unusual incident, Medvedev told the chair official he would go to the toilet in the corridor after being denied a break during a changeover.
The Russian has previously been allowed to run to the toilet during 90-second changeovers, as long as he is back before time is called. But with the bathroom in Montreal too far away from the centre court, his request was denied.
Medvedev didn’t make the most of the time in between set two and set three to use the bathroom. And after getting broken in the first game of the decider, he told Adel Nour that he needed to go.
“Can you ask the supervisor? Before they did sometimes when it’s urgent. I need to take a big one. It’s going to take more time than usual. Ask,” the 28-year-old said. “Not my fault that [the toilet] is like 1:30 away.”
The umpire replied: “I know but that’s why if you plan for it. I don’t know.” But Medvedev quipped: “I didn’t know I’m going to take a s*** after. I didn’t know.”
The former world No. 1 was then dragged into a seven-minute game but held on to trail 1-2 before sitting down for the first changeover of the third set.
Nour insisted that he knew the toilet break rules but Medvedev asked him to check again. “Just a quick rule check because Daniil is asking me, he wants to go to the toilet now. I said not authorised anymore, we are in the final set,” the umpire said on the walkie-talkie.
“He [said] can you please just check because sometimes they allow an extra one if there is an extra one.” But the supervisor replied and confirmed there was no extra chance to go to the bathroom.
Nour turned back to Medvedev and added: “Daniil, I was right. I was correct. They said no extra, nothing extra. You cannot get authorised now.”
With the toilet too far for Medvedev to go during a changeover, the world No. 5 had another idea. “So I can pee there in the corridor. I don’t have time to go to the toilet, I go pee in the corridor. I take a s*** in the corridor, would be better,” he threatened.
Things went from bad to worse for the 2021 US Open champion as he was beaten by Davidovich Fokina 6-4 1-6 6-2. And Medvedev later voiced his confusion over the bizarre bathroom incident.
“It was a problem because I couldn’t go out. I had to go out after the second set because I had forgotten that walking to the toilets is a very long walk here. It’s more than two minutes, and it’s far from Centre Court,” he explained.
“I had to go out because I had waited too long being inactive, so I thought that I could do it during the set, but the rule is not clear to me.
“Sometimes they let me go during the set. I know normally you have to do that within one [minute] and a half of the changeover.
“Sometimes I do it too fast, and I try to walk fast, and the umpire says, Take your time. Today I was told, No, you can’t go.
“So, in fact, in the end I don’t understand the rule, but I believe the tournament should put toilets next to Centre Court. It would be easier. I don’t think it’s very expensive.”
And Medvedev confessed that he should’ve gone when he had the chance. He continued: “What affected me is the rule. The rest is not too bad. It’s not a problem.
“Here the problem was that it takes two minutes to go there and two minutes to come back, which is four minutes just walking.
“So I was stupid, and I had to go out. I didn’t react quickly enough, so I decided to stay on the court. In fact, this cost me some energy in the end.”
