Fourth seed Daniil Medvedev announced he would not continue after the first set of their Qatar Open quarter-final, much to the surprise of his opponent Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Medvedev’s performance fell short of expectations as he lost 3-6 to Auger-Aliassime in the first set, a set in which the Russian faced three break points and saved only one, and did not earn any break points when returning the ball.
After leaving the court after the first set, Medvedev put his racket in his bag and told the umpire that he could not continue. Auger-Aliassime received the news from the umpire, then smiled incomprehensibly, while the TV commentators were also surprised. In the press conference afterwards, Medvedev said he had food poisoning.
“Gentlemen, Medvedev has a health problem and cannot continue the match,” umpire Mohamed Lahyani announced, much to Auger-Aliassime’s surprise. Commentator Arvind Palmer said he saw no signs of Medvedev retiring even in the final game of the first set. “He left quickly, without shaking hands with his opponent. It was an unexpected situation,” Palmer said on live broadcast.
Despite his health problems, Medvedev’s leaving the court without shaking hands with his opponent or the referee left an unfavorable impression on the audience. Many people thought he was impolite to Auger-Aliassime, as well as disrespectful to the audience.
Auger-Aliassime reached the semi-finals against Andrey Rublev without much effort. The world No. 23 sympathized with Medvedev, thinking that his senior did not want to infect him. He said: “I didn’t pay attention and didn’t know what happened. I think Medvedev tried to hide his illness. Maybe he was afraid of infecting me and the referee. I can understand that.”
Fourth seed Daniil Medvedev announced that he would not play after the first set of the Qatar Open quarter-final, to the surprise of his opponent Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Medvedev’s performance fell short of expectations as he lost 3-6 to Auger-Aliassime in the first set, a set in which the Russian faced three break points and saved only one, and did not earn any break points when returning the ball.
Medvedev put his racket in his bag after leaving the court after the first set, then informed the umpire that he could not continue. Auger-Aliassime received the information from the umpire, then smiled incomprehensibly, while the TV commentators were also surprised. In the press conference afterwards, Medvedev said he had food poisoning.
Medvedev was disappointed after losing a point in the match against Auger-Aliassime, on Centre Court in the Qatar Open quarterfinals on February 21. Photo: Reuters
“Gentlemen, Medvedev has a health problem and cannot continue the match,” umpire Mohamed Lahyani announced, surprising Auger-Aliassime. Commentator Arvind Palmer said he saw no signs of Medvedev retiring even in the final game of the first set. “He left quickly, without shaking hands with his opponent. It was an unexpected situation,” Palmer said on live broadcast.
Despite his health problems, Medvedev’s leaving the court without shaking hands with his opponent or the referee left an unfavorable impression on the audience. Many people thought he was impolite to Auger-Aliassime, as well as disrespectful to the audience.
Auger-Aliassime reached the semi-finals against Andrey Rublev without much effort. The world No. 23 sympathized with Medvedev, thinking that his senior did not want to infect him. He said: “I didn’t pay attention and didn’t know what happened. I think Medvedev tried to hide his illness. Maybe he was afraid of infecting me and the referee. I can understand that.”
Medvedev is having a disappointing season, after being eliminated in the second round of the Australian Open last month, losing in the second round of the Rotterdam Open, and stopping in the semi-finals of the Marseille Open. He hasn’t reached a final since the Indian Wells Masters in March 2024 and hasn’t won a title since May 2023.
Since the rise of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, Medvedev has struggled to win more titles. He has lost his last five finals, losing three to Sinner, one to Alcaraz and the other to Novak Djokovic in the 2023 US Open final.
At 29, Medvedev seems to have fallen off his peak, while younger opponents are on the rise. His recent winners have been underdogs, such as Learner Tien, Mattia Bellucci and Hamad Medjedovic.