WIMBLEDON — Daniil Medvedev narrowly escaped being defaulted from his Wimbledon semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz after aiming abuse at umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore on Centre Court.
With the Russian No 5 seed serving at 5-3, 30-40, Alcaraz aimed a short forehand drop-shot cross-court, which Medvedev scrambled to reach. As he scooped his racket at the ball, Asderaki-Moore called “not up,” meaning that she believed that the ball had bounced twice. (Alcaraz hit a forehand pass which Medvedev, out of position, could only deflect well wide anyway.)
After staring at his box, Medvedev then issued a verbal volley in Asderaki-Moore’s direction. Speaking after the conclusion of the match, which Alcaraz won 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, Medvedev said, “I said something in Russian, not pleasant, but not over the line. So I got a code for it.”
When asked if he was concerned about being defaulted, he said “not at all because, as I say, I didn’t say anything too bad.”
He was also asked if he had said “small cat,” a line he infamously used about the umpire in his 2022 Australian Open semifinal against Stefanos Tsitsipas, when complaining about the Greek player’s father giving him coaching on court. He asked umpire Jaume Campistol to issue a code violation, and said, “if you don’t, you are a, how can I call it, a small cat.”
Today, he said, “I would say small cat, the words are nice, but the meaning was not nice here. The meaning was better.”
After calling the score for 4-5, with Alcaraz to serve, Asderaki-Moore gestured in the direction of tournament referee Denise Parnell and supervisor Wayne McKewen, and the three spoke for a few minutes, before Asderaki-Moore returned to the umpire’s chair and issued a code violation for “unsportsmanlike conduct” to Medvedev.
There is a sliding scale in the Grand Slam handbook for verbal abuse, which states that “players shall not at any time directly or indirectly verbally abuse any official.” That progresses from a code violation warning, to a point penalty, to a game penalty. At the point of issuing a game penalty, the umpire can also decide whether or not the offence that led to that penalty — and any subsequent offence — is worthy of a default. In the case of a default, the player immediately forfeits the match, as well as their prize money and ranking points from that match and the event to date.
However, “the referee in consultation with the grand slam supervisor may declare a default for a single violation of this code.” If umpires are issuing code violations, they will do so from the chair over the PA system linked to their microphone. Asderaki-Moore’s summoning of Parnell and McKewen suggests that a default was under serious consideration.
The All England Club did not immediately return a request for comment regarding the discussion.
(Andrej Isakovic/AFP via Getty Images)
