Daniil Medvedev has weighed into the ongoing debate about the shot clock.
Carlos Alcaraz has been very outspoken against the shot clock, and the way it is sometimes implemented by umpires.
Since the world number one has made these comments, many other players have been asked about the shot clock at Indian Wells, with Arthur Fils even calling out a decision against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Despite being a two-time former finalist, Medvedev has not always been happy at Indian Wells, and he has now called out another rule that the tournament is implementing relating to the shot clock.
Daniil Medvedev says the shot clock at Indian Wells is ‘too fast’
Medvedev beat American Alex Michelsen 6-2, 6-4, to reach the quarterfinals of Indian Wells for a fourth consecutive year.
The former world number one is one of the quicker players on tour in terms of time between his serves, and after the match Medvedev was asked why he thinks other players find the shot clock difficult to manage.
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While Medvedev claimed that he thinks some players ‘abuse’ the 25-second shot clock rule, he did call for umpires to have more consideration on what has happened in the previous point before giving a time violation.
Medvedev also admitted that he is not a fan of the shot clock at Indian Wells, which starts automatically as soon as the conclusion of the previous point, rather than the umpire starting it themselves.
“It’s a very tough question, because the shot clock is so — sorry, how you say it, not personal, but subjective,” Medvedev said in his post-match press conference. “Because I do think — it’s very tough.
“I do think there should be some consideration from the referee, meaning even me who goes super fast on my serve, if you play a 40-shot rally and maybe you finish in the corner, today happened a couple of times, I go to serve and I feel like I didn’t even ask for the towel, I was just trying to get some breath, and I look, it’s like five seconds. And I am, like, What happened there?
“So it is fast now. But some players do, how you say, abuse it by, like, it’s two seconds and they go, like, Oh, my toss went away or something. It’s so subjective. I think the way it is here is a bit too fast, and if I’m saying this, then probably it is because I go fast on my serve.
“But in general, yeah, because when they do it like here automatic, I feel like it’s a tiny bit too fast, but when they make this rule where the guy can go to the towel and they only start it at the towel, some guys stand there, like, 20 seconds to go to the towel. It’s very subjective and whatever it is, I just try to adapt and try to play with it.”
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Medvedev was then asked a follow-up question about whether he thinks some umpires implement the rule differently to others.
The former US Open champion named chair umpire Fergus Murphy, who Medvedev claims caused him to lose to Corentin Moutet at the Vienna Open last year due to a time violation that he still does not accept.
Medvedev also said that he would love to see Murphy umpiring Rafael Nadal to see how many time violations he would give the now-retired Spaniard, who was renowned for taking his time between points.
“Yeah, I think so,” added Medvedev. “I think Fergus gave me two or three times in my life a time violation and I always went nuts.
“Because sometimes you play Rafa, you play, I don’t know, Sascha [Alexander Zverev] takes, Novak [Djokovic] takes some time to prepare for serve. And of course you play them sometimes with a different umpire. But I would love to see Fergus — I cannot play Rafa anymore, but if he would make, like, 10 times time violation to Rafa, because you need to have some common sense sometimes, which maybe you should.
“I think also what would work great is to advertise a player, meaning, you know, not give only me, everyone, you first advertise, meaning on the changeover, you say, look, there was one or two times you were getting really close, next time it’s going to be a time violation.
“And not like Fergus gave me, I remember this in Vienna, I went absolutely nuts and lost the match because of it, on the tiebreak, where I played like crazy two points with Moutet, I didn’t even go for the towel, something, and he gave me time violation. And this I don’t accept still. Yeah, I think there is a difference.”
Daniil Medvedev admits he is ‘not proud’ of some of his on-court outbursts
As well as at the Vienna Open, Medvedev has had a lot of on-court drama throughout his career, including in his first round exit at the US Open last year.
Many of these moments have gone viral on social media, and Medvedev has been asked if he looks back and finds any of them funny.
“I think, in a way, all of them because that’s how life is,” responded Medvedev. “Some of them I’m not proud of, but in the end, all of this, it depends. It’s subjective. Some people find it disrespectful; some people find it funny.
“So I prefer when I’m out of the court to be more on the easy side of things and enjoy life. When I’m on the court, it’s a bit different, I’m a bit more strict to myself. So if you enjoy life, you find a lot of things funny which some other people don’t because they enjoy life less.”
While Medvedev admitted he enjoys watching some of his on-court outbursts, he will be hoping to avoid any drama in his quarterfinal match at Indian Wells against Jack Draper, who beat Novak Djokovic to continue his title defence.
This will be a second meeting between the two players, with Medvedev beating Draper in their only previous meeting at Indian Wells last year.
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