Rafael Nadal’s Uncle Toni Slams Daniil Medvedev Over Absurd US Open Behavior: ‘Incapable of Calming His Nerves’

A champion at the US Open in 2021, Daniil Medvedev was involved in a major controversy during his first-round match at this year’s event. Playing against Benjamin Bonzi, the Russian star found the going tough and eventually lost out in five sets. But during the encounter, Medvedev had a heated exchange with the chair umpire, along with racket abuse and unsportsmanlike behavior. As a result, he faced massive criticism from the tennis world, with Rafael Nadal’s uncle Toni joining many in slamming Medvedev for his actions.

It all started when a photographer stepped onto the court surface while Bonzi was preparing for his second serve while serving for the match. The chair umpire, Greg Allensworth, interrupted and put Bonzi back on his first serve, sparking a wild reaction from Medvedev. “Are you a man? Are you a man? Why are you shaking? He wants to go home, guys, he doesn’t like it here. He gets paid by the match, not by the hour,” Medvedev shouted at the chair umpire.

However, this didn’t go down well with Toni Nadal, who called out Medvedev in his Spanish article in El País. Nadal’s uncle wrote, “I’m surprised that a player of Medvedev’s stature is incapable of calming his nerves and is willing to portray himself in this way, and that the heavy financial penalties, like the one subsequently imposed, fail to eradicate his behavior.”

Further, Toni Nadal also called for stricter punishment for such unsportsmanlike behavior. He added, “I believe the time has come for tennis leaders to consider applying sporting punishments to the increasingly common occurrence of tennis players breaking their rackets on the court, and also to consider why this type of reprehensible behavior occurs more frequently in our sport than in other disciplines. I have never seen a ping-pong player break a racket, and very rarely have I seen a golfer punish their club after making a mistake.”

Meanwhile, Medvedev’s controversial actions weren’t let off easily. He faced a hefty fine for his behavior as he was stripped of almost 40% of his US Open prize money with a $42,500 fine. Moreover, the match was also halted for six minutes as Medvedev went on with his outburst. Meanwhile, Toni Nadal wasn’t the only one to slam Medvedev for his actions. Tennis legend John McEnroe had an unexpected reaction to Medvedev’s controversy.

What did John McEnroe say about Daniil Medvedev?

Back during his playing days, the American legend was an aggressive figure and gave hardly anything away to his opponents. Thus, he could understand why Medvedev wasn’t happy with the chair umpire who had awarded a first serve to Bonzi. Nonetheless, McEnroe felt that Medvedev should have been within his limits.

McEnroe revealed, “Besides loving every minute of it? Well you know, he already has tapped out, like months ago. So I’ve been worried about his level ’cause he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing at this point, to me, for a guy that good on hard courts. So this sort of cemented it, like how little confidence he has in anything. But I was sorta hoping, I gotta admit — not at Bonzi’s expense because he showed a lot of balls at the end, to me, in the fifth set — but I was sort of hoping Medvedev would win that.”

It wasn’t the end that Medvedev was looking for at the US Open. He has now slipped to the 16th spot in live tennis rankings. Can Medvedev come back stronger after the US Open heartbreak? Let us know your views in the comments below.