We’ve seen plenty happening across the net on a tennis court over the years but not too many times have we seen what just happened. A fully fit Daniil Medvedev has just walked away from his semi final game against Novak Djokovic at the 2022 Astana Open, thus giving him a walkover and handing him the match in the process.
We’re not too sure of what exactly went down here because Djokovic himself was super surprised. While the official reason while be a retirement due to injury, everyone watching the game will have reactions like ‘what the hell’ and ‘what the fuck’ because Medvedev looked completely agile and there was definitely something more to him pulling out from the game.
Medvedev walks off game with Djokovic
If you see the video of the incident below, you’ll know that it was clearly not disappointment but annoyance on Medvedev’s face. And even Djokovic was super upset to see this happen. Medvedev won the first set and after the second set tie-breaker, a brilliant final set was being set up as Djokovic made a comeback and the game was all set to go down to the wire in the third.
Earlier in the day, Stefanos Tsitsipas booked his spot in the 2022 ATP Astana final, which now means that Djokovic will meet the Greek player in the final. However, everyone will be more interested in knowing why Medvedev pulled out. As soon as the second set was done, he walked to Djokovic, hugged him and explained something to him, and shook hands with him and the chair umpire.
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Even the on-air commentators were shocked as we heard one of them ask, “What on earth has happened here?” after Medvedev pulled out. “Where has that come from” was his next statement on air. No one saw this coming and Djokovic himself was pretty taken aback, as he took a while to digest what happened and start packing his kit bag. As for Medvedev, he walked right off.
What the hell?
After losing the second set, Daniil Medvedev retires against Novak Djokovic in the Astana semifinal.
4-6, 7-6(6) retirement win for Nole, who will face Tsitsipas tomorrow. 2nd final of them year between them, after Rome.
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) October 8, 2022
This may well go down as poor sportsmanship from Medvedev. A lot of the comments on Twitter were suggesting that Medvedev couldn’t take his opponent’s gameplay in the second set and seeing the impending loss, he decided to pull out and avoid the embarrassment. If that’s the case, no one will be happy. We await to hear from him at the post-match press conference now. See the moment here:
Medvedev Forced to Retire! 😳
After @DjokerNole took the second set, Medvedev has withdrawn due to injury in Astana#AstanaOpen pic.twitter.com/w33Iyozrce
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 8, 2022
It’s believed that Medvedev told Djokovic that he pulled an adductor muscle on his leg, but the jokes on social media are on. One user even said that Medvedev ‘retired’ because he was actually tired. He didn’t seem to be injured and the retiring was clearly bewildering. For similar tennis news and other sporting updates from around the world, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
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