Daniil Medvedev unsubtly mocked his great rival Alexander Zverev on Friday in the moments following his defeat at the hands of young Holger Rune in the quarter-finals of the Masters 1000 tournament in Monte-Carlo.
Defeated by Medvedev the day before in a three-run marathon, the German had then deplored the lack of sportsmanship of his opponent, one of the strong men of the circuit in recent weeks. Zverev, 13th seed on the ocher of the principality, had criticized the third favorite for having taken a “bathroom break” in the third round, at a time when the Russian would not have had the right to go there.
“In the game there are 1000 situations where he felt I was starting to play better and each time he tried to do something [pour me distraire]. He disappoints me enormously as an athlete, ”dropped Zverev in an interview with Sky Sports, following being beaten for the second time in eight days by Medvedev.
Zverev also shook hands with his opponent at the net at the end of the meeting, avoiding his gaze.
If Medvedev did not flinch at the time, he pointed out in an interview that Zverev had served twice for the match and that he might have won.
“You are unfair”
And the former world number 1 added a layer of it on Friday, during the handshake at the net with the young sensation Rune, who had just shown him the way out by scoring 6-3 and 6-4.
As shown in the video below, noted in particular by the French sports media The TeamMedvedev first imitated Zverev’s dry handshake, before throwing the Dane, smirking, that he was “unfair” because he “played too well”.
“You are not fair-playthe Russian also scoffed, while Rune thought she looked pretty good.
“In His Own World”
Rune, the sixth seed at Monaco, was no doubt aware of Zverev’s remarks, as Medvedev said that following his victory on Thursday, five players went to see him in the locker room to prankly ask him “why he didn’t was not fair-play?»
Medvedev went on to say that the German lived ‘in his own world’.
Which is nothing to make the next handshake between the two players warmer…
