The world No. 5 was trailing 7-5, 5-3, 15-15, with Djokovic serving for the match, when a ball rebounded off the back wall. Medvedev hit it on instinct. It struck a fan in the face. The spectator clutched his left eye and left the stands with help from stadium staff. After talks with the chair umpire and supervisor, Medvedev was disqualified and shook hands at the net.
“Terribly sorry to the spectator, first of all,” Medvedev said. “I’m trying to get in touch with him, if he wants it. Hopefully I can apologise in person and see how he feels.” He called it a “100% accident.” “You can see that I didn’t hit the ball in anger. Actually I do a lot of bad things, but usually ball abuse is not my thing. The ball was bouncing back, so I tried to just hit it anywhere, so it doesn’t go out from the court.”
He said the feeling was horrible and that the spectator’s condition mattered more than the match. “The most important, I hope that he’s okay. The rest we move on.”
The semi-final had lasted about two and a half hours. Medvedev, champion in Hangzhou last week and chasing an eighth straight tour win, had Djokovic under pressure before the Serb took the first set from a break down and broke twice in the second. “Was a tough match for me. He played really well. I felt like he played like when we played the best matches. I had some opportunities, which I missed,” Medvedev said. “I think he has big chances in the final.”
Djokovic, a record six-time Beijing champion and 33-0 in the city before Monday, said he was shocked and hoped the fan was not badly hurt. “I also feel sorry for Daniil because I know exactly how it feels to be disqualified in a big match,” he said, a reference to his own 2020 US Open default. He faces fifth seed Alex de Minaur in Tuesday’s final. The Australian leads their head-to-head 3-1 on the ATP figures used by the tour after Hurkacz retired injured in the other semi-final.
Medvedev leaves Beijing with a default on his record and an apology still to deliver in person if the spectator agrees to meet him.