Daniil Medvedev smashed his racket seven times in an on-court meltdown as he suffered a 6-0, 6-0 defeat for the first time in his career.
The former world No 1 was handed a tough start to his clay-court season at the Monte Carlo Masters after being drawn against Italy’s Matteo Berrettini.
Medvedev, who has typically struggled on the surface during his career, had begun positively by forcing break points in the opening game but Berrettini ultimately held serve.
The match quickly became a one-sided contest with Berrettini winning the first set 6-0 in just 25 minutes.
Medvedev’s frustrations boiled over in the early stages of the second set, as Berrettini broke serve once again to take a 2-0 advantage.
In response, Medvedev smashed his racket on the court and was then seen throwing it in anger.
Medvedev threw the racket a further four times, with the crowd cheering each one, before eventually smashing it for a seventh and final time near his player’s bench. The meltdown lasted 40 seconds.
‘It had been coming everybody,’ the Sky Sports commentator commented in response to the outburst, before quipping ‘Yeah, I think that’s unusable’ as Medvedev was seen placing the remains of the racket into a courtside bin.
Medvedev, who was given a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct by the umpire, would ultimately go on to suffer the worst defeat of his career as Berrettini completed a whitewash victory.
Speaking on Sky Sports, former British star Jamie Murray admitted he was shocked by the incident and Medvedev’s display.
‘It is shocking, it shouldn’t happen… It did,’ Murray said. ‘[But] I am not sure how much effect that will have on him going forward.
‘I think he will be pretty embarrassed walking into the locker room and will probably be wanting to get off site pretty quickly.
‘He played so well in Indian Wells as well. He talks about clay not being his favourite surface and the difficulties he has on it but he won in Rome [in 2023]. If you can win in Rome, you can play on clay.
‘It was a big surprise to see him go down with two eggs, but fair play to Berrettini, that’s not an easy thing to do.’
Medvedev has a long history of on-court outbursts, with one of the most notable coming at the US Open last August when he was involved in a heated exchange with an umpire, contributing to a six-minute delay to his match.
The meltdown occurred as he endured a nightmare string of results at Grand Slams, winning just one match across tennis’ four most prestigious events.
A coaching change, however, saw Medvedev’s form rebound in the final months of 2025 and his upward trajectory has continued so far this season, leading to him returning to the world’s top 10.
Medvedev has won titles in Brisbane and Dubai this year, while he beat world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz en route to reaching the final of Indian Wells, where he lost to Jannik Sinner in a closely fought contest.
