{"id":180834,"date":"2025-09-30T20:16:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T20:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/180834\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T20:16:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T20:16:06","slug":"daniil-medvedevs-best-effort-warning-at-china-open-was-an-error-atp-tour-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/180834\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniil Medvedev\u2019s best effort warning at China Open was an error, ATP Tour says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniil Medvedev<\/a> asked \u201cwhy is every referee in the world trying to intimidate me?\u201d during his China Open<\/a> semifinal defeat to America\u2019s Learner Tien Tuesday, after being given a \u201cbest effort\u201d warning for not moving to return a serve while suffering from debilitating cramps.<\/p>\n

Medvedev, currently ranked No. 18 after a poor run of results, was trailing 1-0 in the third set and could barely move. When Tien served up 30-15, Medvedev remained stationary before struggling to walk to the other side of the court to try and return serve again down 40-15. It was at this point that the umpire Adel Nour gave Medvedev a code violation warning for \u201cbest effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the ATP handbook: \u201cA player shall use his best efforts during the match when competing in a tournament. Violation of this section shall subject a player to a fine up to $40,000 for each violation\u201d (at a 500-level event like the China Open).<\/p>\n

Medvedev, who can appeal the code violation, will not be fined, according to representatives for the player and the ATP Tour. An ATP spokesperson said: \u201cUpon reviewing the incident during Daniil Medvedev\u2019s semi-final match in Beijing, ATP Officiating has determined that the \u2018Best Efforts\u2019 code violation was issued in error. This was communicated to Medvedev and his team following the match, and no fine will be imposed.\u201d<\/p>\n

A stunned Medvedev waited a moment and then called for the tournament supervisor. Medvedev walked to him and Nour, and said to the supervisor: \u201cIf I tell him something bad I get disqualified, but what am I supposed to tell to this guy?\u201d When Nour started to respond to being asked by the supervisor why he had given the warning, Medvedev interjected and asked: \u201cWhy are you talking?<\/p>\n

Nour argued that: \u201cI know he is not feeling well but there is no movement \u2026 We have to show that we are to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medvedev shot back: \u201cSay it in the camera that you prefer that guys retire.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can talk to you for 10 minutes and maybe I\u2019m not cramping after 10 minutes,\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019m giving my best efforts, so why the hell is he not giving best effort? Who are you to decide for me? Who are you? What\u2019s your name?<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to do something bad, I\u2019m not allowed to, because I\u2019m disqualified,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t say one word, after U.S. Open I\u2019m trying to be good, and this guy is doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medvedev was fined $42,500<\/a> at the U.S. Open last month for unsportsmanlike conduct and racket abuse during his first-round defeat to Benjamin Bonzi<\/a>, and has had numerous run-ins with officials, but Nour\u2019s interpretation of the \u201cbest effort\u201d rule, which is designed to stop players \u201ctanking\u201d or throwing away games deliberately, appeared not to take account of Medvedev\u2019s physical condition.<\/p>\n

The Russian was forced to retire a few games later, trailing 5-7, 7-5, 4-0, which handed Tien a place in the final against world No. 2 Jannik Sinner. Only Carlos Alcaraz and Sinner have more top-10 wins this year than Tien, a 19-year-old American ranked No. 52.<\/p>\n

Despite the nature of his exit, this was still an encouraging week for Medvedev, who reached what was only his second semifinal of the year. He\u2019ll aim now to get fit for the Shanghai Masters, which begins Wednesday,\u00a0where he will face Wu Yibing or a qualifier in his opening match.<\/p>\n

(Photo: Pedro Pardo \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Daniil Medvedev asked \u201cwhy is every referee in the world trying to intimidate me?\u201d during his China Open…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":{"0":"post-180834","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}