Medvedev’s mindless Melbourne meltdown!

Daniil Medvedev faces a hefty fine after mangling his racquet and a net camera in an epic temper tantrum before battling through a fiveset roller coaster to start his Australian Open campaign on TuesdayThe feisty Russian a threetime finalist in Melbourne lost his cool in the third set before rallying to beat 418thranked Kasidit Samrej 62 46 36 61 62 at the Rod Laver ArenaFifth seed Medvedev was 35 behind and on the brink of going two sets to one down against the Thai player when he exploded slamming his racquet into the net camera repeatedly until they both became a broken messAlso ReadSindhu SatChi shine on mixed day at India OpenDaniil MedvedevBall kids had to sweep up the debris when he lost the game and set while the match was postponed briefly as officials ran repairs on the net Medvedev is facing a big penaltyldquoHonestly I hope not too big The fine is usually for breaking the racquet and the camera is going to cost some but I donrsquot think GoPro is that expensiverdquo he saidldquoWhen I did it I didnrsquot want to smash the racquet in pieces When I saw the racquet I was like okay time to take a new one I guessrdquoMedvedev was playing his first match since the ATP Finals in November after arriving in Australia late to be at home for the birth of his second childHe pledged before the tournament to be a ldquodisruptorrdquo against the big names this season but his stuttering start against a player with no pedigree showed he has his work cut out ldquoIt was kind of a top level performance from him serving good one break each set just what you need to do to win matchesrdquo Medvedev saidldquoTwo sets to one down is not an easy feeling I was like I donrsquot want to be on the flight tomorrowldquoIrsquom happy that I managed to stay tough I think in my opinion I didnrsquot play a bad level I played quite well and will for sure try to play better throughout the tournamentrdquoThe former World No1 broke his opponentrsquos opening service game and was never troubled in the first set racing through it in 30 minutesBut the Thai player who qualified for his Grand Slam debut by winning the AsiaPacific wildcard playoff event refused to go awayHe stunned the Russian by breaking him at 54 to take the second and was well on top in the third before the Medvedev meltdownBut Medvedev used his experience to reassert control and win the game as Samrej began flaggingThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever