By Sudipto Ganguly
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Stefanos Tsitsipas feels he is unfairly targetted by officials over on-court coaching and said that it should be allowed anyway, after his Australian Open semi-final loss to Daniil Medvedev on Friday.
During his defeat to Medvedev at the Rod Laver Arena, the Greek world number four was cautioned by the chair umpire in the fourth set for being coached by his father Apostolos from the stands – which is against the rules.
Tsitsipas had also received a similar warning during his third-round win over Benoit Paire at Melbourne Park.
“I wasn’t,” the 23-year-old told reporters when asked if he was being coached. “I cannot hear anything when I’m playing. It’s impossible. Having the crowd being so loud in every single point, you have to have super hearing to be able to hear what your coach says.
“I’m used to it. They’ve been targeting me already a long time. I feel like I’ve gotten a few in the past, and the umpires are always paying attention to my box, never paying attention to the opponent’s box. I feel I have been a victim of that for a long time now.”
Medvedev lost his temper late in the second set and railed at the umpire for not penalising Tsitsipas.
The Greek said he found Medvedev’s behaviour “funny” and did not pay attention.
“I know players like to do this stuff to throw you off mentally. Could be maybe a tactic. It’s all right. He’s not the most mature person anyways,” a smiling Tsitsipas said, adding that he was not the sort of person to listen to any advice while competing.
Tsitsipas said he has discussed it with his father and was “pretty sure” he will keep receiving warnings.
“My father, he’s a person that when he gets into something when there is a lot of action, his medicine is to talk, and you can’t stop it. It’s something that he does from nature,” the French Open finalist said.
“I’ve talked to him about it. I’ve tried, spent countless hours trying to figure it out with him, but it’s part of him.
“That was also one of the reasons last year I went out publicly on one of my social media platforms and said that I think coaching should be allowed, simply because coaches do it anyway. Most of them get away with it, and they do it pretty smartly, I can tell you.”
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Toby Davis)
