It was midway through the second set when Daniil Medvedev smashed the racket against the ground, threw it to the back, repeated it several times up to eight, finally picked it up and threw it in the bin. Done. He had released his anger. He then resumed play but ended up suffering the worst match of his life.
In his debut at the Monte Carlo Masters 1000, he was defeated 6-0 and 6-0 in just 50 minutes. Matteo Berrettini, who was an exceptional player and is now trying to make a comeback after his injuries, did not give him a single game. Medvedev did not even dominate his service games — only winning 17 points — and accumulated up to 28 unforced errors. He was off his game; nothing was working for him. Hence his desperation.
It was not the first time Medvedev lost his temper on the court. At Wimbledon 2017, he emptied his wallet and threw coins at the chair umpire Mariana Alves. At the 2019 US Open, he made an obscene gesture to the Flushing Meadows crowd and snatched a towel from a ball boy. At the 2019 Australian Open, he was fined $76,000 for smashing a camera and throwing his racket during the first two rounds. At the 2025 US Open, after losing to Benjamin Bonzi in the first round, he hit his racket against the ground and the sideline bench at least twelve times. The fine amounted to $42,500. And so on, many, many episodes.
But what happened in Monaco on Wednesday was on another level. It was not just an outburst of anger; it was an absolute disaster. The Russian, who reached the semifinals in the Principality in 2019 and was the runner-up at the Indian Wells Masters 1000, never particularly enjoyed playing on clay, but had never suffered like this before. In fact, it was the first 6-0 and 6-0 defeat of his professional career.
The last Top 10 ATP player to lose 6-0 and 6-0 was Tomá Berdych, defeated by David Goffin in Rome in 2016. A decade later, the successor is a former world number one. Berrettini said he had completed "one of the best performances" of his career. Medvedev left without saying a word. His feelings were reflected in the racket in the bin.