Racist rant gets tennis player disqualified mid-match
if mindshaken had a son... 
Russian 20-year-old Daniil Medvedev was immediately disqualified from the Savannah Challenger United States Tennis Association (USTA) event on Thursday, after he ?questioned the impartiality of the umpire, based on her race.?
During his second-round match against American Donald Young, Medvedev lost the match instantly when handed an unsportsmanlike conduct default for appearing to say something to chair umpire Sandy French.
Trailing 3-1 in the first set, but leading 15-40 on Young?s serve, Medvedev thought he?d hit a winner down the line and walked to his seat believing he had just broken serve, only to realize the chair umpire had called the forehand wide.
When told by French to resume the game, Medvedev exchanged words with the official while walking back to the baseline.
Microphones on the ATP Tour?s live-streaming service caught Medvedev saying: ?I know that you are friends. I am sure about it.?
Both French and Young are of African-American ancestry. He went on to lose the game to trail 4-1 in the first set.
At the end of the game, tournament supervisor Keith Crossland was called to the court by French to discuss Medvedev?s behavior. After a lengthy discussion with Medvedev, Crossland walked over to French in the umpire?s chair and appeared to give his consent for the match to be handed to Young through an unsportsmanlike default against Medvedev.
The crowd had no idea what had just happened. ?Unsportsmanlike conduct. Default Medvedev,? French told the crowd through her chair umpire microphone. ?Game. Set. Match. Young. 4-1. Default.?
Medvedev then shook hands with Young and French and it was bizarrely all over.
The USTA later released a statement confirming Medvedev was disqualified for racist comments. There?s understandable speculation that Medvedev said something worse than the ?friends? remark picked up on the video feed.
Match commentator Mike Cation said he also never saw Medvedev do anything deserving of an unsportsmanlike default.
?I wish we?d picked up what Medvedev said because it must have been pretty bad,? Cation said.
The New York Times compared the incident to Lleyton Hewitt?s infamous comments during a second-round win against American James Blake at the 2001 US Open ? which Hewitt went on to win by defeating tennis legend Pete Sampras in the final.
Hewitt, then 20, denied any wrongdoing when he was accused of drawing attention to the physical similarities between Blake and African-American line judge Marion Johnson, who twice called Hewitt for a foot fault while serving during the third set.
When he dropped a service game at 2-1 in the third set, Hewitt stormed to chair umpire Andreas Egli to demand Johnson be replaced.
?I?ve only been foot-faulted up one end. Look at him, look at him, look at him, mate,?? Hewitt said to Egli while gesturing towards Johnson and Blake. ?Look at him and you tell me what the similarity is. Get him off the court. Look at what he?s done.?
Hewitt has always stressed his call for the linesman to be moved had nothing to do with the color of his skin, though many critics were dubious. The linesman was changed and Hewitt was cleared by an International Tennis Federation investigation which found there was no evidence to bring charges against the player for making a racial comment.
?Mr. Hewitt?s contention was that it just was one person making this call and couldn?t understand that the chair umpire didn?t realize it was the same umpire making the two foot-fault calls,? US Open referee Brian Earley said.
Racist rant gets tennis player disqualified mid-match | New York Post
Russian 20-year-old Daniil Medvedev was immediately disqualified from the Savannah Challenger United States Tennis Association (USTA) event on Thursday, after he ?questioned the impartiality of the umpire, based on her race.?
During his second-round match against American Donald Young, Medvedev lost the match instantly when handed an unsportsmanlike conduct default for appearing to say something to chair umpire Sandy French.
Trailing 3-1 in the first set, but leading 15-40 on Young?s serve, Medvedev thought he?d hit a winner down the line and walked to his seat believing he had just broken serve, only to realize the chair umpire had called the forehand wide.
When told by French to resume the game, Medvedev exchanged words with the official while walking back to the baseline.
Microphones on the ATP Tour?s live-streaming service caught Medvedev saying: ?I know that you are friends. I am sure about it.?
Both French and Young are of African-American ancestry. He went on to lose the game to trail 4-1 in the first set.
At the end of the game, tournament supervisor Keith Crossland was called to the court by French to discuss Medvedev?s behavior. After a lengthy discussion with Medvedev, Crossland walked over to French in the umpire?s chair and appeared to give his consent for the match to be handed to Young through an unsportsmanlike default against Medvedev.
The crowd had no idea what had just happened. ?Unsportsmanlike conduct. Default Medvedev,? French told the crowd through her chair umpire microphone. ?Game. Set. Match. Young. 4-1. Default.?
Medvedev then shook hands with Young and French and it was bizarrely all over.
The USTA later released a statement confirming Medvedev was disqualified for racist comments. There?s understandable speculation that Medvedev said something worse than the ?friends? remark picked up on the video feed.
Match commentator Mike Cation said he also never saw Medvedev do anything deserving of an unsportsmanlike default.
?I wish we?d picked up what Medvedev said because it must have been pretty bad,? Cation said.
The New York Times compared the incident to Lleyton Hewitt?s infamous comments during a second-round win against American James Blake at the 2001 US Open ? which Hewitt went on to win by defeating tennis legend Pete Sampras in the final.
Hewitt, then 20, denied any wrongdoing when he was accused of drawing attention to the physical similarities between Blake and African-American line judge Marion Johnson, who twice called Hewitt for a foot fault while serving during the third set.
When he dropped a service game at 2-1 in the third set, Hewitt stormed to chair umpire Andreas Egli to demand Johnson be replaced.
?I?ve only been foot-faulted up one end. Look at him, look at him, look at him, mate,?? Hewitt said to Egli while gesturing towards Johnson and Blake. ?Look at him and you tell me what the similarity is. Get him off the court. Look at what he?s done.?
Hewitt has always stressed his call for the linesman to be moved had nothing to do with the color of his skin, though many critics were dubious. The linesman was changed and Hewitt was cleared by an International Tennis Federation investigation which found there was no evidence to bring charges against the player for making a racial comment.
?Mr. Hewitt?s contention was that it just was one person making this call and couldn?t understand that the chair umpire didn?t realize it was the same umpire making the two foot-fault calls,? US Open referee Brian Earley said.
Racist rant gets tennis player disqualified mid-match | New York Post
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