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Alexander Zverev accused Daniil Medvedev of playing mind games during their semifinal clash at the 2024 Australian Open. The German expressed his disapproval after a close-line call went in his favor, as Medvedev challenged it and asked to see the replay.
The Australian Open semifinal between Zverev and Medvedev was a roller-coaster affair. The two players battled for more than four hours on Rod Laver Arena, with Medvedev coming back from two sets down to win in a five-set thriller and reach his sixth Grand Slam final.
Medvedev looked out of sorts in the first two sets, as Zverev played efficient tennis to take them 7-5, 6-3. However, the Russian did not give up and raised his level in the third, winning it 7-6(4).
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The moment of controversy happened towards the end of the fourth set, with Zverev accusing Medvedev of playing mind games during a crucial point. The German was serving at 5-6 and had just won a point in a long rally that ended with a crosscourt backhand return.
Before he could serve again, Medvedev challenged the previous point. The umpire declined the request, as the Russian had exceeded the time limit to ask for a review. Zverev was visibly irritated by Medvedev’s act and said to the umpire:
"He knows it was inside the line. He’s doing a show again."
Daniil Medvedev went on to win the set in a tie-break, eventually winning the enthralling encounter 5-7, 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 6-3. The Russian will face fourth seed Jannik Sinner in the final on Sunday. The Italian stunned World No.1 Novak Djokovic in four sets in the semifinals.
"Extremely disappointing, nothing much I can say" - Alexander Zverev on losing Australian Open SF to Daniil Medvedev
Following his defeat to Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals of the 2024 Australian Open, Alexander Zverev was questioned by the media about how he felt considering he was so close to making his second Major final.
Zverev said he was happy with his performance in Melbourne but was "extremely" disappointed about losing the match.
"I mean, just basically the whole Australian trip I was playing quite well. Been playing well actually for a few months now, so it's obviously extremely disappointing. Yeah, nothing much I can say," Alexander Zverev said during his post-match press conference.
A journalist also brought up Zverev’s loss from a two-sets-to-love lead in the 2020 US Open final and asked if that defeat affected his semifinal loss in Melbourne. The World No. 6 revealed that he was not in his best shape against Medvedev because he had a fever after his quarterfinal win over Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday.
"Yeah, frustrating. But for me it's more frustrating that I didn't feel 100% physically. That was more frustrating to me. It kind of took the chance away. You know, kind of I lost it because of a physical state, not because of tennis. That is, for me, disappointing..." Alexander Zverev said.
"End of the second set I started to lose energy. I started to not feel, you know, so fresh anymore. I mean, I am a bit sick. I got a bit sick after the Alcaraz match with a bit of fever and stuff like that, so that obviously didn't help the recovery, and I did play quite a lot," he added.
