Milan, 5 Oct. (LaPresse) – “I’m terribly sorry for the spectator. I’m trying to get in touch with him, if he’d like that. I hope to be able to meet him in person, apologise and see how he’s doing.” So said a visibly distressed Daniil Medvedev following the incident that led to his disqualification in the China Open semi-final against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic. “It was 100 per cent an accident. You can see that I didn’t hit the ball out of anger. I do make a lot of mistakes, but hitting or throwing the ball isn’t usually part of my behaviour. The ball was coming back, so I simply tried to hit it, to send it anywhere, so that it wouldn’t go out of bounds,” explained the Moscow native, as reported by Supertennis. “When I saw what had happened, I felt absolutely terrible because, once again, I don’t think I’ve ever found myself in a situation like this before. I hope the spectator is all right; that’s the most important thing because in situations like this you never know,” he added. “There was absolutely no anger in my action. It wasn’t even particularly frustration. I didn’t hit it hard, but I did hit him. Right now, I really only care about that spectator. I hope to be able to meet him and somehow make amends for what happened.”
ATP Beijing, Medvedev: “I’m sorry for the spectator, it was an accident”
Milan, 5 Oct. (LaPresse) – “I’m terribly sorry for the spectator. I’m trying to get in touch with him, if he’d like that. I hope to be able to meet him in person, apologise and see how he’s doing.” So said a visibly distressed Daniil Medvedev following the incident that led to his disqualification in the China Open semi-final against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic. “It was 100 per cent an accident. You can see that I didn’t hit the ball out of anger. I do make a lot of mistakes, but hitting or throwing the ball isn’t usually part of my behaviour. The ball was coming back, so I simply tried to hit it, to send it anywhere, so that it wouldn’t go out of bounds,” explained the Moscow native, as reported by Supertennis. “When I saw what had happened, I felt absolutely terrible because, once again, I don’t think I’ve ever found myself in a situation like this before. I hope the spectator is all right; that’s the most important thing because in situations like this you never know,” he added. “There was absolutely no anger in my action. It wasn’t even particularly frustration. I didn’t hit it hard, but I did hit him. Right now, I really only care about that spectator. I hope to be able to meet him and somehow make amends for what happened.”