French Open: 'Too late!' - Bizarre scenes as Alex De Minaur upset after Daniil Medvedev plays return then calls ball out

ByOli Gent

Published 03/06/2024 at 13:56 GMT

There was a moment of controversy in the third game of Daniil Medvedvev's French Open fourth round encounter with Alex de Minaur, with the Russian alleged by the Australian to have called a backhand played by the 11th seed "too late" after the fifth seed had already played his return. De Minaur's complaints received sympathy from the Eurosport commentators, Barry Millns and Arvind Parmar.

There was a contentious moment on Court Suzanne-Lenglen as Daniil Medvedev appeared to call a ball out having already played his return.

With the score at 1-1 and deuce in his French Open last-16 encounter against Alex de Minaur, the fifth seed watched a backhand from his Australian opponent land, before hitting a backhand return to continue the rally. 

De Minaur, the 11th seed, replied with a backhand drop shot that bounced on Medvedev’s side, but the Russian had already stopped, with his index finger raised, calling De Minaur’s previous backhand long. 

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That prompted Louise Engzell, the chair umpire, down to inspect the mark, with the Swedish official siding with Medvedev’s call that the ball was out. 

De Minaur approached the net to complain that Medvedev’s call had come too late as he had played his return, and the Eurosport commentators agreed with the Australian. 

“He felt it was too late from Medvedev,” Barry Millns said. 

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Arvind Parmar replied: “Yep, he felt like he’d played his shot - that’s what he’s saying - and then he stopped.

“Yeah, well… I mean, he’s got a point. He’s played the drop shot, and now he’s stopped.”

“Absolutely!” Millns concurred. 

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The winner of the match will face the winner of Alexander Zverev and Holger Rune in the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros.

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