LONDON (AFP) – Daniil Medvedev bizarrely called umpire Eva Asderaki a "small cat" during the Wimbledon rant that earned the Russian a code violation in his semi-final loss against Carlos Alcaraz on Friday.
Medvedev was beaten 6-7 (1/7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 by defending champion Alcaraz in a repeat of his defeat to the Spaniard at the same stage of last year's Wimbledon.
The volatile 28-year-old was handed a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct by Asderaki after his angry reaction to a ball that was ruled to have bounced twice before he hit it.
He narrowly failed to reach the Alcaraz drop-shot and was broken in the ninth game of the first set.
The tournament referee and supervisor were summoned to Centre Court by Asderaki after fifth seed Medvedev's furious outburst.
But despite the potential for a disqualification, Medvedev was allowed to continue, winning the first set before eventually succumbing to the relentless Alcaraz.
Asked what he said to Asderaki, the former US Open champion revealed his unusual insult, without explaining what he meant by his choice of words.
"I would say small cat, the words are nice, but the meaning was not nice here," Medvedev said.
Medvedev claimed he had a previous run-in with Asderaki at the 2022 French Open and was frustrated to be on the wrong end of another double-bounce decision from the umpire.
"I don't know if it was double bounce or not. I thought no. That was tricky. The thing is that once long ago Roland Garros against (Marin) Cilic I lost, and she didn't see that was one bounce. So I had this in my mind. I thought, again, against me," he said.
"I said something in Russian, not unpleasant, but not over the line. So I got a code for it."
The six-time Grand Slam finalist, who has never won Wimbledon, insisted he was not worried that he would be kicked out for his latest clash with the official.
"Not at all because, as I say, I didn't say anything too bad," he said.
"The thing is that I think it would be so much easier with a challenge system. The challenge system shows a bounce. So if there was a bounce, it would show it.
"Then if we use it, we would never have this situation. So I don't know why don't we use the challenge system for double bounce, the Hawk-Eye or whatever."
It is not the first time Medvedev has used the "small cat" description for an official.
In his 2022 Australian Open semi-final win over Stefanos Tsitsipas, Medvedev used the same expression in a rant at umpire Jaume Campistol.
On that occasion, Medvedev was irked by the constant talking from Tsitsipas's father, who was sitting courtside, but he later apologised to Campistol for his rant.