Daniil Medvedev once again found himself in troubled waters, this time with an outburst at chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani at the 2025 Shanghai Masters. The Russian player even invoked the retired Rafael Nadal in his off-the-rails tirade after being a code violation.
Medvedev took on Learner Tien in the Round of 16 on Wednesday, their third meeting this year. In the last two matches, the American emerged as the winner.
Daniil Medvedev got a decent start, taking the opening set in a tiebreaker and then taking a 3-0 early lead in the second. However, ghosts of his previous defeats returned, as the former World No.1 ended up losing the break advantage and forced the set to end in a tiebreaker again.
This time, Tien capitalised, breaking away with a mini break. It was here that Medvedev crumbled, resulting in his fury at Umpire Lahyani, who thought he was taking too long to return.
Following the violation, Medvedev snapped back at Lahyani, recollecting all the times he faced Nadal. The Russian player was of the opinion that Nadal had always made the opponent wait, but got no code violation like the one he got in Shanghai. He threw the accusation at the chair umpire's face, calling him 'crazy' for the decision to give him the violation.
"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. To me, today, at the slightest thing you give it to me. I always waited to return, and you didn't give it to him. You're crazy. Completely crazy," Medvedev said.
Medvedev went on to lose the set, but bounced back to secure the third set 6-4 to reach the quarterfinal of the Masters 1000 event.
Daniil Medvedev to face Alex de Minaur next at Shanghai Masters
After his win against Learner Tien, Daniil Medvedev will next take on Alex de Minaur in the quarterfinals of the Masters 1000 event. The Aussie defeated Nuno Borges in the Round of 16, and is yet to lose a set at the competition.
A victory against De Minaur would pit Medvedev against either Felix Auger-Aliassime or Arthur Rinderknech in the semifinals, with a possible final against Novak Djokovic looming.