Australian Open, Medvedev out of control: he destroys the camera with his racket. What happened

Rome, 14 January 2025 – Daniil Medvedev literally went crazy in the first round of the Australian Open. Down two sets to one against the Thai Kasidit Samrej (number 418 in the world), the Russian (no. 5) lost his head and at the change of sides he deliberately the camera was demolished with racket blows fixed to the center of the net, guilty of who knows what in the mind of the champion. The racket also ended up on the ground, broken in several places. The replacement of the camera caused a delay in the resumption of the game and, predictably, a hefty fine at Medvedev's expense. 

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Medvedev needed five sets to beat Samrej, after more than three hours of play. The Russian, who was definitely not in his best form and at times very nervous, won 5-6, 2-4, 6-3, 6-6, 1-6 against the first Thai to play a singles match in the men's draw of a Slam since 2.

In the second round Medvedev will face the young American talent Learner Tien (no. 121), coming from the qualifiers, who today defeated the Argentine Camilo Ugo Carabelli (no. 94) in five sets. Winner of the US Open 2021, the Russian is the last of the top 5 to advance to the next round, after the qualification in three sets of the defending champion Jannik Sinner (no. 1), the German Alexander Zverev (no. 2), the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz (no. 3) and the American Taylor Fritz (no. 4). Not high enough in the ranking to directly access the qualifiers or the main draw of the Australian Open, Samrej (24) had booked the ticket to Melbourne by winning a tournament reserved for players from the Asia/Pacific region and it was the first time in his career that he faced a best-of-five set match.