War of Words Between Holger Rune and Daniil Medvedev Transpires at Indian Wells

Things got a little heated during the Indian Wells quarterfinal between Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune. While the Russian player progressed to the semi-final, the talking point from the match was his brief but intense exchange with Rune at the start of the second set. This spilled over after their match was done and dusted.

Medvedev had won a tough first set 7-5 before Rune started off strong in the second set. The Dane scored a point after the two players came face-to-face across the net and Rune went for a shot close to Medvedev’s body because of not having enough space. Rune immediately raised his hand in apology, but the Russian missed that and reacted aggressively.

Medvedev stood near the net for some time, stared at Rune, and made an “I see you” gesture. Rune took an exception to this and informed umpire chair umpire Carlos Bernardes who said, “You didn’t do anything, you apologized, I saw.” Bernardes relayed this to Medvedev and the two players shook hands over the net. But then immediately after the end of the match, the two had a little back and forth.

After winning the match, the 28-year-old Russian tennis player offered to resolve the issue. He told Rune, “If you wanted to talk about this in the [locker room], I didn’t hear you say sorry.” Rune, however, didn’t appear keen on taking the matter beyond the court.

The 20-year-old replied, “There’s no reason to talk about it.” To this, Medvedev responded with, “Sorry, man,” 

The Russian tennis star addressed the whole incident in the post-match press conference and admitted he was upset at getting hit but has nothing against Rune.

” I got mad,” Medvedev attributes his reaction to him being hit in the first place

Speaking at the press conference, Medvedev said that he didn’t see Rune apologize to him. He said, “It’s just I didn’t see him say sorry after he went for me, you know.” Medvedev also praised Rune’s game plan and said, “I do this sometimes also. You know, you run for the balls, it’s not an easy ball because you go cross, you go line, it’s actually a good tactic to go at your opponent.”

He then explained what led to his reaction and urged everyone to move forward, “I think that when you say sorry usually this gets forgotten straightaway and stuff like this. I didn’t see it. So I got mad.”

Medvedev came out on top winning the game 7-5, 6-4 to book a place in the semi-final at the Indian Wells for the second year in a row. He will face Tommy Paul in the last four and will hope to go one better than last year, when he ended up as the runner-up.