Tennis: Daniil Medvedev lashes out at umpire's chair in bizarre meltdown at the ATP Cup

Daniil Medvedev lashed out. Photo / Twitter

Tennis stars taking out their frustration on chair umpires isn't unheard of.

But Daniil Medvedev decided to instead let out his anger on the chair itself.

The Russian tennis star unleashed his nasty side at the ATP Cup in Sydney, lashing out at an umpire – and his chair - in a bizarre meltdown.

It all started when the World No. 5 entered a verbal confrontation with his opponent Diego Schwartzman, who he claimed failed to acknowledge winning a point from a net cord.

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Medvedev, who is set to play in next week's men's ASB Classic, quickly turned his attention to chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani before bashing the chair with his racquet.

It's all getting a bit spicy in Sydney... 🌶 😳#ATPCup pic.twitter.com/IgCt1KLEnD

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) January 9, 2020

The 23-year-old received a warning for unsportsmanlike behaviour over the incident.

He later defended his actions, blaming his poor behaviour on jet lag.

Daniil Medvedev is given a code violation warning by the umpire. Photo / Getty

"Nothing happened to the chair, nothing happened to anybody, I didn't break my racquet.

"To be honest, I felt like s***. It was tough ... at a few points in the match, I thought, OK I cannot do anything I am so tired physically, Diego was playing amazing. I knew I just had to continue to try to fight."

Medvedev said he didn't expect to receive any further penalty but would wait to see if there would be any further sanctions.

"It's not for me to decide, I don't know what the ATP will decide," he said.

"The second code violation for sure was deserved, so I don't argue.

"In fact, why I got the second one was because I was arguing with the first one, because I didn't hear it."

After winning the first set, Medvedev went on to lose the second following the incident, but bounced back to claim the match, taking out the decider.