Daniil Medvedev launches into £7m China Open rant in latest fiery outburst on court

Daniil Medvedev again made his frustrations with Hawk-Eye clear at the China Open on Sunday. The Russian has made himself heard about his frustrations with tennis' line-calling technology on numerous occasions and did so again while facing Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in his second-round match at the ATP 500 event in Beijing.

Medvedev eased past Cameron Norrie to set up a match against the Spaniard and though a 6-3, 6-3 victory on Lotus Court set up a quarter-final showdown with Alexander Zverev, he was still frustrated during the contest. Following a close call, world No.18 Medvedev demanded to see a Hake-Eye replay on the big screen but did not get his wish.

And during the next changeover, the former US Open champion made his annoyance clear with the chair umpire. "Aren't the ATP paying millions of dollars to Hawk-Eye, no?" Medvedev asked. "When you pay $10million every year, you should just show it, it's okay."

Medvedev's latest moan comes after he raised a similar complaint in Beijing 12 months ago while playing Carlos Alcaraz. On that occasion, he said: "The Hawk-Eye is so bad. Just show it! Why does the ATP pay for the Hawk-Eye if we can't see it? Don't buy the Hawk-Eye, guys. It's not my sponsor."

Alcaraz won 7-5, 6-3 in the semi-finals on that night. But 2023 China Open finalist Medvedev at least emerged a winner against Davidovich Fokina to reach a third successive quarter-final at this event.

The former world No.1 said after: "Maybe the feeling of the game, the general awareness [which I have been] lacking lately. I'm trying to get that back, and that's also why I'm happy today. To win many return games, you need to react fast on the return, run faster on the next shot. Everything needs to be better, but it's not too bad."

Medvedev has won seven of the last eight meetings against Zverev and is 13-7 overall in their head-to-head. World No.3 Zverev is looking to reach a fourth semi-final in Beijing.

Medvedev is no stranger to an outburst and was handed a hefty fine at the US Open last month for a meltdown during a first-round loss to Benjamin Bonzi. He was hit with a £31,500 ($42,500) punishment for unsportsmanlike conduct and for smashing a racket against a chair.

He said: "What I say and what I do, in my head, I want to do worse, and I cannot because there are rules, because we're on a tennis court. So I just expressed my emotions, my unhappiness with the decision, and then the crowd did what they did without me asking them too much, and it was fun to witness."

After shouting out 'What did Reilly Opelka say?' on court, referring to the American labelling umpire Greg Allensworth the worst on tour, Medvedev added: "I'm getting a big fine enough, so if I speak, I'm in big trouble, so I'm not going to speak.

"Not everyone knows what I talked about when I said Reilly. Reilly got fined big-time for this, so I'm going to get a big fine too."