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Daniil Medvedev has expressed his discontent over a line call controversy during his loss to Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the BNP Paribas Open.
Alcaraz defeated Medvedev 7-6(5), 6-1 at Indian Wells to lift his first trophy of the 2024 season and the first since winning his second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon 2023. The first set witnessed a close fight and eventually went to a tiebreak during which, some drama ensued.
Alcaraz took a 4-2 lead by marginally clipping the line with a slice return that Medvedev believed had landed out. The Russian immediately demanded a replay of the call made electrically but the chair official Mohamed Lahyani denied him seemingly claiming that they could not due to tech issues.
Moments later, Medvedev was overheard by the cameras calling tennis a "sh*t sport".
Speaking after the match, Medvedev elaborated on his remark decrying the less advanced tech in tennis while rockets can travel to outer space.
"There are some things in tennis that are way too old. For example, now it's no line umpires. Okay, the ball was in, I know it. I was, like, just show it to me, just show me the mark fast, I don't care, you can even show me on this iPad that he has, Mohamed. I think what happens is they cannot come back. We're in 2024, rockets go to space," Daniil Medvedev said.
The 2021 US Open champion further backed his argument by condemning the system in place that could not fetch a replay from three shots ago whereas smartphones can apparently hear you.
"Things on iPhone hear is what you say. And when I talk about golf with my friends, the next thing I see on Twitter is golf. And I'm, like, 'Okay, then you cannot show me the mark of the shot that was three shots ago? I'm not asking for anything special," Daniil Medvedev said.
Daniil Medvedev feels technology must facilitate tennis players to challenge a call even if it was ten shots ago
Further during the press conference at the Indian Wells Masters 2024, Daniil Medvedev suggested that the technology must be advanced enough to facilitate tennis players in challenging a call even after ten shots. He said:
"In my opinion, you can challenge, let's say he hits a serve on the line, second serve, you play a long rally, you lose the rally. In my opinion, you can challenge the serve itself.
"Because if, in some case, it was out and the referee didn't see it, the point should have not been played. You can come back 10 shots and say, I challenge this, and if it's in you lose the point."
Notably, Medvedev has fallen further behind Carlos Alcaraz with the loss on Sunday as he now trails 2-4 in their head-to-head. The Russian will next compete at the Miami Open
