‘Some things in tennis are way too old’, Daniil Medvedev goes on a rules rant

Daniil Medvedev believes that some rules in tennis are too old fashioned and should be modernized after an incident at Indian Wells.

It comes after the world number four requested to be shown a video of a ball that was called in during his Indian Wells final against Carlos Alcaraz.

After several long rallies in the match, Alcaraz pulled off a drop shot that hit the outside of the line which Medvedev then returned. However, after the point had been won by Alcaraz, Medvedev asked the umpire to see the call on the screen.

When asked about the incident in his post-match conference, Medvedev said with modern technology as advanced as it is, players should be able to see any call they request.

“In my opinion there are some things in tennis that are way too old,” said Medvedev.

“So I always said, for example, let's say -- now it's no line umpires. Actually, okay, the ball was in, I know it, it's a live system. I was, like, Just show it to me. You know, just show me the mark fast.

“I don't care. You can even show me on the iPad, this iPad that he has, Mohamed, I don't care. I think what happens is they cannot come back. We're in 2024. Rockets go to space. I don't know. “

“Things on iPhone here is what you say. And when I talk about golf with my friends, the next thing I see on Twitter is golf. And I'm, like, ‘Okay, then you cannot show me the mark of the shot that was three shots ago?’ I'm not asking for anything special.

“For me it's inexplicable that on hard courts when the ball touches the line, 5-All first set on the tiebreak, that the ball bounces different. Just use the same paint that you use for the court. So when the guy serves on the line, you don't get lucky to get a lucky point. “

Medvedev went on to mention a recent incident with his countryman Andrey Rublev which resulted in Rublev being defaulted from the Dubai Tennis Championships.

In his semi-final match against Alexander Bublik, Rublev was infuriated by what he considered a bad call which resulted in him being disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct.

“Yeah, for me, the biggest rule in tennis should be when we have challenge system -- like what happened with Andrey, apparently the ball was in”, said Medvedev.

“But in my opinion, you can challenge, let's say he hits a serve on the line, second serve, you play a long rally, you lose the rally. In my opinion, you can challenge the serve itself because if, in some case, it was out and the referee didn't see it, the point should have not been played.

“In my opinion, you can come back 10 shots and say, I challenge this, and if it's in you lose the point.”

Asked about his on-court declaration that ‘tennis is such a sh*t sport’, Medvedev admitted that the heat of the moment got to him.

“Yeah, there are many small things about tennis, but I was definitely exaggerating. I love tennis. I'm going to continue playing it, but when you are not happy sometimes you say stupid things.”