Daniil Medvedev destroys a TV camera attached to the net during his 5-set Australian Open win

 

[January 14, 2025]  By HOWARD FENDRICH

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Daniil Medvedev used his racket to smash a tiny camera attached to the net at the Australian Open while he was trailing someone ranked 418th before eventually avoiding a monumental upset and winning 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the first round at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday.

The No. 5-seeded Medvedev earned the title at the 2021 U.S. Open and is a three-time runner-up at Melbourne Park, including a year ago, but was hardly playing his best in the second and third sets against Kasidit Samrej, a wild-card entry from Thailand who was making his Grand Slam debut.

“I know I play better when I play more tennis,” Medvedev joked afterward. “So I was like, ‘Why play 1 hour, 30 (minutes)?’ Need a minimum of three hours, at least, to feel my shots better.”

The camera-destroying racket swings happened in what would be the last game of the third set, which Samrej claimed to take a two-sets-to-one-lead in the best-of-five match.

Medvedev's display of anger came after he lost a 13-stroke point to trail 40-15. Samrej hit a shot that clipped the net, altering its trajectory and throwing off the Russian's balance, before a cross-court forehand passing winner left Medvedev unable to make contact.

Medvedev went up to the net and brought his racket forward with full force five times, breaking his equipment while shattering a small black camera and sending pieces of it flying. That earned a code violation warning for racket abuse from the chair umpire.

Soon enough, Medvedev had dropped the set, leaving him with plenty of work to do to avoid a massive upset in his first match of the 2025 season. Medvedev quickly did turn things around, though, claiming 12 of the remaining 15 games, and 61 of the remaining 94 points.

Daniil Medvedev of Russia reacts during his first round match against Kasidit Samrej of Thailand at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

He finished with 24 aces and fewer than half as many unforced errors as Samrej, 34 to 69.

“In the end of last year, this match, I probably would have lost it,” said Medvedev, who went 3-1 in five-setters at the 2024 Australian Open. “New year, new energy.”

Samrej got treatment from a trainer because of a problem with his left leg late in the fourth set.

He was trying to become the lowest-ranked man to eliminate one of the top five seeded players at a Grand Slam tournament since the ATP's computerized rankings began in 1973, according to the International Tennis Federation.

The biggest such result entering Tuesday was when No. 234 Alex Kim beat No. 4 Yevgeny Kafelnikov at the 2002 Australian Open.

Samrej earned his way into this year's Australian Open bracket by going through four rounds of a wild-card playoff for the Asia-Pacific region in November. He never had played against someone ranked higher than 78th until Tuesday and never has beaten anyone ranked higher than 157th.

“I watched his matches, and I didn't see this level, so I was surprised,” Medvedev said. “If he plays like this every match, his life will be good.”

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