Daniil Medvedev recorded one of the most hard-fought wins in his career at the 2024 Indian Wells Open, but it wasn't without some spicy moments.
The Russian and his opponent both tremendously struggled in the match, unable to gain any sort of control, hitting unforced errors left and right and breaking practically in every other game.
After Medvedev won the opening set 6-4, he lost the second set 5-7, and in the third set, he was just unable to confirm a one-break lead. He broke Korda in the third game, but the American broke back.
The Russian then broke in the fifth game again, but once again, Korda broke back. It was after the sixth game that Medvedev decided to change his racket, and once he approached his chair, he was annoyed by the person operating the camera.
According to the former world no. 1, the person got too close to him, and he requested the umpire to intervene, and also chimed in, saying: "Can you move out of the way?"
It was maybe this interaction or the change of the racket that helped him, as Medvedev went on to win the following three games, winning the match 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 to set up a fourth-round clash with Grigor Dimitrov.
The match was a proper grind for both players. They hit a total of 99 unforced errors combined, and there were 16 breaks of serve 31 games of play, meaning players lost their serve more often then they held.
Medvedev was visibly irritated by how the match went, despite winning it in the end. Still, he was in a mood to joke around, as his post-match on-court interview was the literate definition of irony.
"I think the level was great, we didn't do many unforced errors, the ball was so easy to control. I was broken like once and him, maybe I broke him three times in the whole match."