Medvedev fined for bizarre coin-tossing Wimbledon incident

Daniil Medvedev was the surprise story of the first round when he ousted No. 5 seed Stan Wawrinka, but he upped the ante in round two with some fairly bizarre behavior.

The 21-year-old Russian was frustrated with the officiating from chair umpire Mariana Alves—so irate that in the fifth set he called for her to be removed. Medvedev lost 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 2-6, 6-2 to Ruben Bemelmans and reacted at the end by emptying his wallet.

What exactly did this mean? Was Medvedev implying bias or bribery, or was he merely feeling short-changed about a few calls?

“I was just frustrated, so it has no meaning,” Medvedev said afterward. “I haven’t thought about it.”

Regardless, it was a bad look, and Medvedev repeatedly struggled to evaluate his action.

“I don't know why I did it,” he said. “As I said, like, in the heat of the moment, I was frustrated. Maybe there were some bad calls. It can happen in sports. I was just disappointed and made a stupid thing.”

Umpires have coins of their own—for the coin toss before matches—but Medvedev’s unusual tipping act earned him a $14,500 fine for unsportsmanlike conduct. Broken down, the fines were $4,000 for his official warning, $3,000 for a point penalty and $7,500 for unsportsmanlike conduct (the coins). That'll come out of his $74,000 paycheck this week.

Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @JeremyEckstein1

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