WATCH: Daniil Medvedev clashes with umpire after 'lack of effort' violation
NewsTuesday, 30 September 2025 at 14:02
Daniil Medvedev was very unhappy with Adel Nour's decision during his semi-final match at the 2025 China Open, clashing with the umpire.
For a moment, it looked like Medvedev was back to his former self in Beijing. He reached the semi-finals at the ATP 500 event in China without losing a set, beating Cameron Norrie, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and Alexander Zverev, who are all incredibly challenging opponents.
In the semi-finals, he faced the lowest-ranked player he had to face in Beijing, but it was a proper battle regardless. Learner Tien played a great match. He led 4-2 in the opening set, but Medvedev still won it 7-5 after a great comeback.
The Russian player was then up 5-3 in the second set and even served for the match, but he couldn't serve it out, losing four games in a row. Medvedev lost the second set 5-7, and the match had to be decided in the third set.
At the start of the third set, it appeared that Medvedev started struggling with cramps. He lost the first game on his serve. In the second set, Tien led 30-15 on his serve when the incident happened.
Already prior to the point, Medvedev was bent down over his racket, quite clearly struggling to move because of the cramps he was struggling with. His opponent then served an ace down the T, which the former world No. 1 wasn't able to react to, mostly because of his inability to move properly.
To the surprise of everyone involved, the umpire of the match, Adel Nour, then announced, "Code violation, best effort, Mr. Medvedev." The Russian player was stunned by the decision to give him a code violation for lack of effort, considering he was struggling physically.
He immediately told the umpire to call the supervisor, as he was very upset by the umpire's decision. Talking to the supervisor, Medvedev made it clear that he was doing his best to hold himself back.
"If I tell him something bad, I will get disqualified. But what am I supposed to this guy? You don't talk now [Medvedev to the umpire, ed.], I talk to him. Why are you talking?"
The umpire then tried to explain his point. According to Nour, even though Medvedev was not feeling well, he could have shown more interest in the game.
"I know that he's not feeling well. But it's not that he's not going to move."
Medvedev then stated that the umpire clearly preferred him to retire instead of playing, and also mentioned that the fact that Nour made that controversial decision gave him some time to recover from his cramps.
"So you prefer that I retire. Just say it in the camera that you prefer that the guys retire. But it's good, at least I can talk to you for 10 minutes now, and maybe I'm not cramping then after 10 minutes."
Medvedev also said that the umpire couldn't factually decide whether he was giving his best effort on the court or not. According to the Russian, he was doing his best out there.
"I'm giving my best effort, so why the hell is he giving me the best effort [violation]. I'm telling you I'm giving my best effort, who are you to decide? Who are you? What's your name? Why do you decide for me if I give my best effort or not?"
"I want to do something bad that I'm not allowed to because I would be disqualified. Why is every referee in the world trying to intimidate me? I didn't say one word. After the US Open, I'm trying to be good, and this guy did that, and I'm supposed to be good?"
Medvedev ultimately continued playing, but he retired down 0-4 in the third set and proceeded to tell the umpire "good job" while shaking his hand.
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