"This incident has already turned into a lynching" - Photographer, who sparked controversy at US Open, shares his side of story after 'suffering greatly' following Daniil Medvedev outburst

A photographer’s presence near the playing area at the US Open has caused a lot of stir. Russia’s Daniil Medvedev became the most high-profile player to lose on the first day of the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year to France’s Benjamin Bonzi in a five-set thriller with a score of 6-3, 7-5, 6-7, 0-6, 6-4.

During the third set, Bonzi was serving for the match point, but the match was interrupted due to a photographer. Chair umpire Greg Allensworth asked the photographer, who was close to the playing area in anticipation that the match would be over soon, to leave the area and decided to award Bonzi another first serve when he was originally having a second serve.

That incident left Medvedev furious, and he had a heated argument with Allensworth, where he accused the chair umpire of trying to go home early. "Are you a man? Are you a man? Why are you shaking? What's wrong, huh? Guys, he wants to leave. He gets paid by the match not by the hour. What did Reilly Opelka say?,” said Medvedev.

The incident forced the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to revoke photographer Selcuk Acar’s accreditation for the ongoing US Open. Acar has now spoken to the Daily Mail, where he claimed that he was the ‘victim’ of the whole controversy. Acar contended that the whole incident left him suffering ‘greatly’. "I'm a victim and totally innocent," said Acar. "This incident has already turned into a lynching, and although I'm innocent, I've suffered greatly. If there's a camera there, if it's monitored, it will show that I returned to the official twice and didn't enter. I didn't know and see if Medvedev saw me. I'm not a photojournalist that can [make] such a mistake."

After the match, Medvedev claimed he was not upset because of the photographer’s presence on the court, but his reaction was largely down to the umpire’s call to award Bonzi another first serve. “I was not upset with the photographer,” said Medvedev. It was nothing special. Every time there’s a sound from the stands between serves, there is never a second serve. But well, that helped me get back into the match. It was a fun moment to live. I wasn’t upset with the photographer. I was upset with the decision.”

Medvedev was later asked about whether it was intentional on his part to cause such a controversy on Bonzi’s match point. In response to that, Medvedev claimed that it was not the case. “Honestly not at all,” said Medvedev. “Because for sure I was disappointed. I thought, ‘He has a match point on his serve. I didn’t break him once in the match.’ I thought I’m losing the match. And ok it’s 2nd serve, I think if the referee doesn’t say anything, he makes a 2nd serve and probably wins the point and the match is over. He says first serve, I like… what I say and what I do… in my head. I want to do worse. I cannot. Because there are rules and I’m on a tennis court. I just expressed my emotions and unhappiness and then the crowd did what they did without me asking them too much. It was fun to witness.”

The incident diverted the attention from how difficult things have been for Medvedev on the court this year. For the first time since 2017, Medvedev failed to get past the second round of any Grand Slam. His best outing this year came at the Australian Open, where he lost in the round of 64 to America’s Learner Tien in a five-set thriller with a score of 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 1-6, 7-6.