The Russian Daniil Medvedev commented on the controversy involving an arbitration decision during his victory over the British Jack Draperin the quarterfinals of the Masters 1000 de Indian Wellslast Thursday (12).
Seeded number 11, Medvedev won 2 sets to 0 and advanced to the semi-finals of the tournament, where he will face the number 1 in the world, .
Draper, current champion of the tournament, was coming off a surprising victory in the previous round and had little time to recover before the clash.
The controversy happened in the second set. With the score at 5-5, Medvedev requested a video review after claiming he was distracted by a gesture from Draper during a rally when the Brit raised his arm when he believed the ball had gone out.
Chair referee Aurelie Tourte confirmed the interference and awarded the point to the Russian, who took a 30-0 lead in the game. Draper contested the decision, claiming that the gesture did not cause a significant distraction, but the call was maintained, which provoked boos from the crowd.
After the match, he stated that he did not feel completely comfortable with the situation, but rejected any suggestion that he had tried to take advantage.
“If you look at the first forehand I hit after that happened, I think I could have hit a better shot if there hadn’t been Jack’s gesture,” he said.
“Was I too distracted? No. Do I feel good about it? Not so much. But I also don’t feel like I cheated. I got a little distracted, let it go and let the referee decide”, he added.
