(VIDEO) “They are made to please”: Daniil Medvedev’s day of frustration ends in early Rotterdam exit

Daniil Medvedev was involved in regrettable scenes during his brief stay at the ABN AMRO Open Rotterdam, after falling in the first round to Ugo Humbert by 6–7(4), 6–3, 3–6. The Russian made strong comments against the balls used in the tournament and even kicked a courtside advertising board on a day marked by frustration.

The world No. 11 returned to the courts for his first tournament since the Australian Open, where he reached the fourth round — being eliminated for the second consecutive year by young star Learner Tien. The Russian had been finding his form again in recent months and in fact started the year with a title at the Brisbane International.

In Rotterdam, he arrived as the fourth seed and with the chance to continue showing that he can return sooner rather than later and keep closing in on the top 10. The world No. 11 was just over 200 points away from re-entering the top 10 — meaning that a good run this week in Rotterdam could have placed him back among the elite.

However, everything came to an abrupt end. His early exit came in a match in which Medvedev never truly felt comfortable, and in which the balls became the main factor targeted by the former US Open champion. “These tennis balls are round, or not round?” the Russian asked after calling the tournament supervisor during one of the changeovers.

“Are they round? Head balls, are they round? Are you sure? Because I see it not round…” The tournament supervisor looked puzzled at Medvedev while confirming that the balls are round, but Medvedev continued sarcastically.

“It’s a bit strange. So I think maybe we should consider not playing with Head balls. The Head Tour XT ball is not round, so we should not be playing with it, nobody should be buying it, we should not be promoting a tennis ball that is not round.”

“We have three more games to play with not good balls,” Medvedev continued. “The problem is when you touch it with the racket, it does not react the same way on your shots, so how do you want us to play tennis?”

The Russian was far from his best level, landing just 58% of first serves — winning 83% of those points and 43% on second serve. However, he could not be consistent and ended up failing at key moments, committing nine double faults and converting just 1 of 8 break point opportunities throughout the match, compared to 1 of 5 for Humbert.

The Frenchman also showed greater effectiveness in the tie-break of the first set, which proved to be the key moment of the match. Medvedev had managed to extend the match by taking the second set and pushing everything to a decider. However, he had already been showing frustration for some time due to constant unforced errors: a total of 42 unforced errors and only 17 winners.

The break in Humbert’s favour midway through the third set — which gave him a 3–1 lead — was the moment when Medvedev completely lost his composure. Minutes later, Medvedev saw a glimmer of hope when Humbert served at 4–2, 0–40, with three break opportunities — a chance for the former world No. 1 to find a way back into the match.

However, he was unable to capitalise, and after missing his third break point opportunity, he was seen kicking the tournament advertising boards on the side of the court — something that we had already seen before from Medvedev.

At the following changeover, Medvedev was also seen making controversial comments to the chair umpire. “These balls are horrible. Please delete these f—ing balls from this f—ing life,” said the former Grand Slam champion. “The balls are made for … People who love to please … People who love to please with a little bit of saliva,” he concluded.

Medvedev left the court minutes later, while Humbert advanced to the second round of the tournament, where he is still waiting to find out his next opponent, who will come from the match between Marton Fucsovics and local wildcard Guy Den Ouden. Medvedev, meanwhile, will immediately travel to Qatar to compete in the ATP Doha Open next week — where he will share the draw with players such as Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Novak Djokovic.