Daniil Medvedev doesn’t think he’ll get a huge fine for breaking a camera at the Australian Open (Image: Australian Open TV)
addressed his fiery outburst after breaking a camera during his opening match at the .
The world No. 5 let his frustrations get the better of him while trailing Thai wildcard Kasidit Samrej, repeatedly
Medvedev stormed back to win in five sets and is now hoping his punishment isn’t “too big”.
After reaching three finals in Melbourne Park – including one last year – Medvedev is hoping to finally get his hands on the trophy in 2025. But his campaign got off to a tough start when he went two sets to one down against the world No. 418.
Medvedev stormed through the opening set but Samrej stole the second, breaking in the final game. He continued to cause all sorts of trouble for the Russian in set three, saving break points before breaking again to serve for the lead.
With Samrej leading 5-3, Medvedev was drawn into the net and attempted to take a swipe at the ball but missed, giving his opponent his first set point. The world No. 5 was furious, whacking his racket into the net several times and receiving a warning.
It quickly became apparent that Medvedev had broken the camera that was embedded in the net. After Samrej took the third set, staff members were called to the court to fix the camera while a ball girl swept up the mess.
Daniil Medvedev smashed his racket into the net and broke a camera (Image: Getty)
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After , Medvedev was asked how much he expected to be fined for his outburst. But the 28-year-old questioned whether the penalty could be that bad if it wasn’t racket or ball abuse.
“Well honestly, I hope not too big because probably the fine is usually for breaking the racket,” Medvedev replied.
“And the camera is going to cost some but I don’t think a GoPro is that expensive.”
The former world No. 1 was also surprised by how “strong” the camera was, as he chose to hit the net so he didn’t damage his racket but ended up breaking it anyway.
He added: “But what I have to say is that the camera was very, very strong because my racket didn’t handle the damage but the camera did.
“It broke down but there was not one piece going out from the camera. Very strong, I was very surprised. Because when I did it, I didn’t want to smash the racket in pieces. When I saw the racket I was like, ‘okay, time to take a new one I guess’.”
Medvedev will now face Learner Tien in the second round, where he will hope to get things wrapped up much faster than he did on Tuesday.
But his three-hour, five-setter wasn’t all bad. “I know that I play better when I play more tennis so I was like, why play one hour 30, I need minimum three hours at least to feel my shots better, to have a good sensation,” he joked.