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World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev lost his second consecutive grass-court tournament on Sunday. Medvedev went down 6-1, 6-4 in straight sets against Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in the final of the Halle Open. The Russian, however, found it difficult to return Hurkacz’s attack and lost the match in just 64 minutes.
Amidst this, the OWL arena witnessed some unusual behavior from World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev as he screamed at his coach during an on-court outburst. Ever so calm and composed Medvedev could not control his frustration as he looked helpless against Polish star Hubert Hurkacz. 41-year-old Gilles quickly gathered his belongings and left the arena in a round of applause from the crowd supporting Giles' actions.
Watch the video here:
The incident happened at the start of the second set on Sunday. Daniil Medvedev broke down at that moment and looked vulnerable against Hubert’s attack. Daniil shouted angrily at his French coach Gilles Cervara, who promptly left his seat in the stands and stormed out of the stadium.
Amazed by Daniil Medvedev’s actions commentator of the match said, “Gilles Cervara has seen enough. I'm not sure if there's been something said there or whether it was just the nature of that point but he is leaving the OWL arena. I can't quite believe what I've seen there."
After the match, Medvedev apologized to the crowd for the poor show and admitted that he was “not easy to be with on the court” this week. But there was no comment on the coach’s reaction.
Medvedev congratulated winner Hubert Hurkacz, who won his 5th career title. Hubert defeated Medvedev at Miami Open earlier this season and looked pleased with the performance. He said, “Daniil is the best player in the world so it’s very tricky to play him. All the right shots went my way at the beginning, so I definitely gained a lot of momentum from that.”
Poor 2022 season for Daniil Medvedev
Medvedev though managed to secure the top spot in ATP Rankings, he has had a poor 2022 season so far. He did reach 3 tournament finals but was beaten by 3 different opponents. Famously Spanish icon Rafael Nadal defeated him in 5 set thriller at the Australian Open clinching his record Grand 21st slam in the process. Then very recently Daniil lost to Netherland’s Tim Van Rijthovan last Sunday.
With no championship whatsoever Medvedev will be looking to settle a bit and prepare for upcoming tournaments. However, Daniil Medvedev’s participation at Wimbledon remains doubtful after the ban on Russian and Belarusian players.