At this point, everyone knows what went down in the first round match up between Daniil Medvedev and Benjamin Bonzi at the Louis Armstrong stadium on Monday. If John McEnroe was once the bad boy of tennis because of his famous short temper—notably saying to the umpire at Wimbledon, “You cannot be serious” after a line call he didn’t agree with—then Medvedev is the supreme villain, taking things to a whole another level.

After a cameraman walked onto the court, and Bonzi was awarded another first serve, not only did Medvedev scream the words, “Are you a man? Why are you shaking? He wants to go home guys, he doesn’t like to be here. He gets paid by the match, not by the hour,” at the chair umpire, Greg Allensworth, but he also riled up the crowd by bringing up an issue that American player, Reilly Opelka, had with this same umpire a few months ago.

The crowd took the bait and ended up booing for 5 minutes straight, till the game was back in order. Though Medvedev ended up winning this set, and another straight one after that, Bonzi won the final set and therefore the game with a final scoreboard of 3-6, 5-7, 7-6, 6-0, 4-6. This didn’t leave the short-tempered Medvedev happy, and he ended up breaking his racket after the results. However, these things don’t simply get brushed aside, and Medvedev anticipated that he would have to pay heavily for his actions.

In what might end up on a ‘Biggest fines in tennis history list,’ Medvedev has been fined $42,500 in total. This amounts to 38.6% of his $110,000 prize money, with $30,000 directed at his “unsportsmanlike conduct” and $12,500 for “abuse of racquets/equipment.”

While this isn’t the largest fine to be handed out in tennis history, it is certainly up there, and the severity of Medvedev’s behaviour can be better analyzed when seen in context with other similar instances in the game.

Daniil Medvedev joins the ranks of other hugely fined tennis players

While it might seem shocking at the moment, the truth is Daniil Medvedev’s outburst, simply from the lens of the fine that was given, could have been worse. Though the former World No. 1, who won the 2021 US Open beating Novak Djokovic in three sets, has certainly fallen from glory after this instance, there have been others who have had to come back from worse.

Let us not forget that in 2009, none other than the GOAT herself, Serena Williams, was awarded an $82,500 fine in her semifinal match against Kim Clijsters. After receiving a warning following her racket abuse after her first set loss, she was fouled on a foot fault in the second set, Serena took things out on the line judge, in a heated argument where she famously said, “I swear to God I’m going to take this ball and shove it down your throat.” The incident was not treated lightly, with Williams fined and put on a two-year probation.

Then, there was that thing that happened with the other GOAT, Novak Djokovic, in the 2020 US Open. After a heated exchange with the chair umpire, in Djokovic’s match against Pablo Carreño Busta, the grand slam super star, hit a stray ball in frustration, which ended up striking the line judge in the neck and causing her to fall to the ground. Though the incident was deemed a ‘freak accident,’ the USTA had to set some standards, and Djokovic was fined $10,000 in addition to forfeiting his $250,000. The point being, it happens! Players lose their cool and say and do all sorts of things.

Talking about saying all sorts of things, this very ongoing tournament just had an incident involving Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko. Townsend’s winning momentum in the singles category rode through to round three of the tourney, which Ostapenko didn’t take lightly. During their post-game handshake at the net, words were exchanged, which Taylor would later go on to reveal. Ostapenko allegedly called Townsend “classless” with “no education,” to which Townsend responded with, “I’m excited, bring it on.”

In a post-match interview, Medvedev took about zero responsibility for his actions, saying of the incident, “I just uh express, my emotions, my unhappiness with the decision. And then the crowd did what they did without me without me asking them too much.” What makes it an even worse look, is that Medvedev’s anger has gotten the better of him before. In fact, a similar thing happened in 2019 on the same court, Medvedev snatched a towel from a ballperson, and was then given a code violation by the umpire, Damien Dumusois, in response to which he threw his racket in the direction of Dumusois. Daniil Medvedev was handed a $9,000 fine, but maybe this recent $42,500 fine might get the point through to his head.

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