In the second round of this year's Australian Open, Russian star Dmitry Medvedev suffered an upset and was eliminated by 19-year-old qualifier Lerner Money. The Russian was defeated but his on-court behaviour sparked controversy, resulting in a $76,000 fine, four times the amount of Serena Williams' fine in the 2018 US Open final due to the controversial incident.

Of the $76,000 fine Medvedev received, $66,000 was for unsportsmanlike conduct, $10,000 was for his absence from the post-match press conference after the second round, and he was also ordered to pay for a new camera, estimated at around $30,000.

Medvedev had a difficult start to the year in Melbourne as he battled Thailand's qualifier Samrej in five sets. Despite winning 6-2 4-6 3-6 6-1 6-2, the match was full of gunpowder. At one point, the world No. 5 smashed his racket into the net multiple times, damaging the camera in the net as well as his racket.

In the second round, the 28-year-old faced Lerner Qian and lost 3-6 6(4)-7 7(8)-6 6-1 6-7(7-10) in a match that lasted four hours and 49 minutes. In the deciding set, Medvedev took the lead with a break and it seemed that the scales of victory had tipped in the Russian's favor. However, 19-year-old rising American star Lerner Qian persevered despite his visibly tired fourth set.

This was Lerner Money's fourth appearance in a Grand Slam main draw, and he managed to break back in the eighth game of the deciding set. Then, after a brief rain hiding, he sealed the most important win of his career so far with a brilliant tie-break. The Australian Open was a stage for rookie to rise, and against former world number one and Grand Slam champion Dmitry Medvedev, Lerner Qian withstood a tough moment in a nearly five-hour battle and wrapped up an epic match in the early hours of the morning. His achievement undoubtedly surpassed other underdogs and was one of the biggest highlights of the tournament.

During the game, Medvedev expressed palpable frustration on several occasions, including throwing his racket to the sidelines, arguing with the referee about being called a foul for a missed foot, and pretending to hit the ball at the lineman in charge of the penalty. In addition, he skipped the press conference that he had to attend after the game.

As a result, Medvedev was fined $10,000 for destroying the camera on the mesh belt during the match against Samrej, and another $66,000 for "misconduct" against Lerner. Prior to that, Serena Williams had been fined $17,000 for several heated arguments with the referee during the 2018 US Open final against Naomi Osaka. Afterwards, Serena Williams sent an apology message to Naomi Osaka and revealed that she began to seek psychotherapy to relieve her emotional stress.

For Medvedev, the 2025 Australian Open is his debut of the new season. As he has reached the final of three Australian Open tournaments in the last four years, expectations are high for him.

However, the tennis star's journey was tougher than expected, and after the first round, Medvedev joked about smashing his racket into the camera in an interview: "That camera was really sturdy, because I was very surprised that my racket didn't survive the blow and the camera was unscathed." The fines are usually for damaging the racket, and the camera might be worth a bit of money too, but I don't think the Go Pro will be that expensive. ”

Over the course of his career, Medvedev has reached three Australian Open finals and advanced to the Wimbledon semifinals once. In 2021, he won his first Grand Slam title, crowned at the US Open. In addition, he was the winner of the 2020 ATP Finals.(Source: Tennis Home Author: Spark)