Daniil Medvedev conceded he was out of his mind when he embarked on an extraordinary rant at the chair umpire during his Australian Open win over Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The Russian, who came from two sets down to see off Felix Auger-Aliassime in the last round, roared into a second consecutive Melbourne final as he downed Tsitsipas in a fiery last-four showdown.
Medvedev ultimately triumphed 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-4 6-1 to set up a final with Rafael Nadal but it was a contest in which tempers frayed, mostly on US Open champion's side of the net.
Second seed Medvedev felt Tsitsipas' father was coaching from the sidelines and received a warning for his persistent complaining.
He stopped short of accusing Tsitsipas of cheating but explained his mindset at length in the post-match news conference.
Medvedev said: "Cheating, not at all. First of all I got broken - I got a little bit mad. I thought the referee could do a little bit better with the crowd, just to say, 'Quiet please', or something like this.
"Didn't see him doing that often and I made a terrible double fault, got a code when I was just showing everybody that I'm cramping.
"I cannot toss the ball with my left hand because everybody's screaming, so my serve was terrible.
"To be honest, before every return his father was talking Greek. I don't know, maybe he's saying, 'Come on, come on', there is no problem.
"But then the referee, I asked him if he can talk. He said he can talk but he can't coach. Then I said, 'Do you speak Greek?'
"If not, the guy is talking, talking, talking. I don't know what he says, but if it's a coach - I don't consider coaching as cheating but it should be a code violation. Then second one would be a bit tricky."
Medvedev branded the umpire "a small cat" in his astonishing on-court outburst.
He added: "You guys are laughing, so I think we can say it was funny, but I was definitely out of my mind. I was not controlling myself anymore about anything.
"That's actually why I'm really happy to win. Many matches like this I would go on to do mistakes - you lose your concentration with things in the heat of the moment. I'm so happy that I managed to catch it really fast."
Medvedev often feels regret after his outbursts, but concedes they sometimes give him the fuel to win.
"I regret it all the time, because I don't think it's nice." he said. "I know that every referee is trying to do their best.
"In tennis we don't fight with the fists but tennis is a fight. It's a one-on-one against another player.
"So I'm actually really respectful to players who never, almost never show their emotions because it's tough, I can get really emotional.
"I have been working on it. So many matches I handle it. If we look back at myself five years ago when I started playing, just started playing, there was less attention on me, but I was just insanely crazy.
"I'm working on it. Helps me to win matches, I know. So I do regret it 100 per cent, but again, in the heat of the moment, I just lost it."
Tsitsipas suggested the Russian was lacking in maturity, saying about the rant: "Well, it's for sure funny!
"It's funny. I don't pay attention to the stuff. I know players like to do this stuff to throw you off mentally. Could be maybe a tactic? It is all right, he is not the most mature person anyways."
Of the allegation he received coaching, Tsitsipas replied: "I wasn't - you saw me the other day, losing the score twice in two of my matches. I cannot hear anything when I'm playing.
"It's impossible. Having the crowd being so loud in every single point, you have to have super hearing to be able to hear what your coach says.
"I'm used to it. They've been targeting me already a long time. The umpires are always paying attention to my box, never paying attention to the opponent's box.
"Last thing I want is someone giving me tips and giving me advice on what I should do. I'm not the kind of person that would try and listen when out there competing, playing. In practice, maybe."
But Medvedev was reluctant to get into a war of words with Tsitsipas.
He said: "No, I don't want to get too much into this, because again, it was nothing against Stefanos, nothing during this match and I feel like I didn't talk about him.
"I just talked about the rule, because again, I don't know what his father is saying. Maybe he's just saying, 'Let's go next point'. It's completely allowed.
"I don't know Greek. Same about the umpire. He should just, I don't know, talk to Stefanos first maybe, [tell him to] say something to your father.
"If my coach would be talking in French to me before every point, even I would say, 'Stop it. It's not allowed'. So it was only about this."
Tsitsipas revealed he had regularly discussed the topic with his father and ultimately believes coaching should be legalised.
He added: "My father, look, he's a person that when he gets into something when there is a lot of action, his medicine is to talk, and you can't stop it. It's something that he does from nature.
"I've tried, spent countless hours trying to figure it out with him, but it's part of him.
"Last year I went out publicly on one of my social media platforms and said that I think coaching should be allowed, simply because coaches do it anyways.
"Most of them get away with it, and they do it pretty smartly, I can tell you."
French Open day five: Iga Swiatek eases through as Daniel Altmaier shocks Sinner
Women’s top seed Iga Swiatek eased into the third round of the French Open with victory over Claire Liu.
Coco Gauff set up an intriguing clash with 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva, while Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina saw off teenage Czech Linda Noskova.
The match of the day saw German Daniel Altmaier defeat eighth seed Jannik Sinner in five hours and 26 minutes, the fifth longest match in tournament history.
Picture of the dayTweet of the dayQuote of the dayStat of the dayChina on the march
China has been a virtually non-existent presence in men’s tennis in the open era but three players featured in the main singles draw and Zhang Zhizhen, who will play Casper Ruud, is the first through to the third round since 1937.
Fallen seeds
Men: Jannik Sinner (8), Tommy Paul (16), Alex de Minaur (18)
Women: Madison Keys (20), Donna Vekic (22)
Who’s up next?
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Cameron Norrie will try to break new ground at the French Open when he takes on talented young Italian Lorenzo Musetti.
The British number one is yet to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros, where he could face top seed Carlos Alcaraz, who plays Denis Shapovalov in the night session.
Novak Djokovic faces Alejandro Davidovich Fokina while Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula are the leading women in action.
Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva dreams of ‘winning 25 grand slam titles’
Sixteen-year-old Mirra Andreeva said she dreams of winning 25 grand slam titles after reaching the third round of the French Open.
The prodigious Russian talent came through qualifying and has lost just six games in her first two main-draw matches, beating France’s Diane Parry 6-1 6-2 on Thursday.
Andreeva only turned 16 at the end of April and is setting her sights sky high for her tennis career.
“The dream: I know that (Novak) Djokovic, he did 22 grand slams, so I want to go until 25, if it will be possible,” said the confident teenager.
Andreeva will try to keep her feet on the ground, though, adding: “As my coach says, to not be like a diva, to stay humble all the time. I don’t think that I have a lot of success now. I didn’t win any tournaments. I just play. It’s the third round of Roland Garros. I will play.”
Defending champion Iga Swiatek again had a tough first set, this time against American Claire Liu, before pulling away to win 6-4 6-0.
The world number one, who celebrated her 22nd birthday on Wednesday, had difficulty finding her rhythm in windy conditions.
Swiatek would rather play on Philippe Chatrier in the day than at night, though, and revealed she has been requesting not to feature in the late prime-time session.
Every night session so far has consisted of a men’s match despite organisers facing criticism last year for not giving equal billing to the women.
“I felt like I played already night sessions in this clay court swing,” said Swiatek. “Obviously it would be nice if we had women’s matches as well. But I’m not helping.”
Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina fought off a Czech teenager for the second straight round, following up her success against 16-year-old Brenda Fruhvirtova by defeating 18-year-old Linda Noskova 6-3 6-3.
Seventh seed Ons Jabeur has looked strong so far, the Tunisian seeing off Oceane Dodin 6-2 6-3, while Kayla Day upset American compatriot Madison Keys 6-2 4-6 6-4.
Jannik Sinner knocked out of French Open by Daniel Altmaier after five-hour epic
Eighth seed Jannik Sinner was toppled by German Daniel Altmaier in a five-hour epic at the French Open.
In a tremendous atmosphere on Suzanne Lenglen, Altmaier clinched a 6-7 (0) 7-6 (7) 1-6 7-6 (4) 7-5 second-round victory after five hours and 26 minutes – the fifth longest match in the tournament’s history – having saved two match points when Sinner served for the win in the fourth set.
A tense finale saw Altmaier broken when he served for the match for the first time at 5-4 in the decider and then pegged back from 40-0 at 6-5.
Italian Sinner had three chances to force a deciding tie-break, and chucked his racket to the clay in anger after missing the final one, before Altmaier, ranked 79, took his fifth chance with an ace.
The German, who lost to Sinner in five sets at the US Open, sat in his chair sobbing afterwards, saying: “I love clay and I love the crowd and everything. The emotions were crazy.”
Altmaier, who reached the fourth round on his Roland Garros debut in 2020, next faces Grigor Dimitrov after the Bulgarian’s more straightforward 7-6 (4) 6-3 6-4 victory over Emil Ruusuvuori.
An open bottom half is now even more so, with fourth seed Casper Ruud the highest-ranked player remaining.
The Norwegian appears to be playing himself into form at the right time after a difficult season so far, and said after a 6-3 6-2 4-6 7-5 victory over Giulio Zeppieri: “It was tough to try to finish the match, and it was a two tough sets, but I’m happy to win one of them and be through to the third round.”
Twelfth seed Frances Tiafoe fought back from a set down to defeat Aslan Karatsev 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-2 but 18th seed Alex De Minaur fell in straight sets to Argentina’s Tomas Etcheverry.
Etcheverry next meets 15th seed Borna Coric, who won another five setter against Pedro Cachin, and Thiago Seyboth Wild followed up his upset of second seed Daniil Medvedev by beating Guido Pella 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-3.
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