Medvedev Disqualified From China Open Semi-Final After Ball Hits Spectator in the Eye

Daniil Medvedev’s China Open ended three points from defeat and one loose ball from a disqualification. Trailing Novak Djokovic 7-5, 5-3 in Monday’s semi-final, the world number five hit a ball that had rebounded off the back wall, sent it into the first row of seats and struck a spectator in the left eye, Reuters reports. The spectator was helped out of the stadium holding his eye, the tournament supervisor came to court, and Medvedev was defaulted without arguing the decision.

What exactly happened in the semi-final?

Djokovic was serving for the match when the point that ended it was played. After losing the point, Medvedev met the ball bouncing back off the advertising boards behind the baseline and struck it away with a backhand, NBC Sports reports. Instead of clearing harmlessly, the ball carried into the front row and hit a man square in the face, leaving him doubled over and clutching his left eye as staff helped him out, Reuters and The Times report.

Medvedev stood and watched, then accepted the default when the officials confirmed it, and shook Djokovic’s hand at the net. It was the second Beijing semi-final to end early on Monday: Alex de Minaur had already advanced when Hubert Hurkacz retired hurt, CNN reports.

Why does an accidental hit still mean disqualification?

Because the rule judges the act and its danger, not the intention behind it. The ATP rulebook’s ball-abuse provision, summarised by USA Today, bars players from hitting a ball violently, dangerously or with anger outside the reasonable pursuit of a point, and defines abuse to include hitting a ball recklessly within the court or with disregard for the consequences. A single serious violation can bring an immediate default rather than the usual warning and point penalties.

That is why Medvedev’s defence, that he did not hit the ball in anger, does not change the outcome. Once a ball struck outside a rally hits a spectator, an official or a member of staff, the supervisor has little room to do anything else. The same line was tested a day later in Shanghai qualifying, where Terence Atmane’s thrown racket stopped at the side wall and spared him a default before he retired and apologized. It is the same strict logic that governs smaller calls all over the sport, from a let in tennis being replayed regardless of who it inconvenienced to a foot fault costing a point nobody disputes was accidental.

What did Medvedev and Djokovic say afterwards?

Medvedev apologised and asked to do it in person. He told reporters the incident was “100% an accident”, that the ball was bouncing back and he tried to hit it anywhere so it would not leave the court, and that he felt horrible when he saw where it went, USA Today reports. He said ball abuse is not usually his failing, that he was trying to get in touch with the spectator, and that his first hope was that the man was not badly hurt.

Djokovic, of all opponents, understood the position. “I was shocked, to be honest. I hope that person is not badly injured,” he said, via CNN. “On the other hand, I also feel sorry for Daniil because I know exactly how it feels to be disqualified in a big match. I’m sure that Daniil didn’t want to do this intentionally.”

How much does the default cost Medvedev?

His whole tournament. Under ATP rules the match goes down as a loss and a defaulted player forfeits every dollar and every ranking point earned at the event, USA Today reports. The Times puts the forfeited prize money at $219,925 and the lost points at 200.

The points are the sharper cut. Those 200 points would have lifted Medvedev to fifth in the race for next month’s ATP Finals; instead he stays eighth and in jeopardy, The Times reports, in a race this site has already seen tilted by Jannik Sinner’s three-month knee absence from the Shanghai Masters. A season that turns on fine margins now includes a semi-final he nearly finished, recorded as a default.

Why does this echo Djokovic’s 2020 US Open default?

Because Djokovic lived the same rule from the other side of the net. At the 2020 US Open he swatted a ball away in frustration between points, struck a line judge in the throat, and was ejected from the tournament as world number one, USA Today notes. On Monday the beneficiary of a default was the man who had been its most famous victim, and his sympathy in the on-court interview was immediate and specific.

Beijing had already been a tournament of officials and replays deciding storylines, from Djokovic calling the video-review rule ‘stupid’ after Alexander Zverev’s replayed point to the top two women’s seeds falling on consecutive days and Coco Gauff calling out an ‘insane’ wave of racist abuse after a replayed point in her win over Sun Xinran. Medvedev’s exit is the starkest of the lot: no argument about the call, because the rule leaves nothing to argue about.

What happened in the final, and what came after? (Update, October 9)

Update, October 9: the final never reached a conclusion either. De Minaur retired from Tuesday’s final with a groin injury, so Djokovic took a record seventh China Open title, the 102nd of his career, without completing either of his last two matches in Beijing. Three days later in Shanghai, the workload caught up with him: Hurkacz beat Djokovic for the first time in nine meetings, 6-4 6-3, in the 39-year-old’s sixth match in 10 days.

For Medvedev, the open questions are the spectator’s condition, which no outlet had updated in the first wave of reporting, and whether the ATP adds any sanction beyond the default itself. His racquet-smashing code violation in Monte Carlo in April, reported by USA Today, shows a conduct record the tour already knows. Whatever follows, the Beijing semi-final goes in the books the same way Djokovic’s 2020 fourth round did: a loss, by default, in a match the loser was about to lose anyway, and a bill for the full week.