Daniil Medvedev has qualified for the ATP Finals despite being disqualified from the China Open in Beijing, where he was stripped of 200 ranking points after unintentionally striking a spectator with a ball during his semi-final match.
The incident occurred while Novak Djokovic was serving for the match. Medvedev hit a ball away with his racket, not in frustration, but it made contact with a spectator in the front row, leading to his default. He has since apologised both publicly and privately.
Impact on the Race to Turin
When a player is defaulted, they lose their points and prize money from that tournament, though this can be appealed. The setback complicated Medvedev's quest to return to the ATP Finals, as he acknowledged he would have qualified much sooner without the loss of those points.
Speaking days later at the Shanghai Masters, Medvedev said: "Look, it's all about results. If I played strong in Canada, quarters of, and continued my results here, and didn't lose 200 points somewhere last week, I would probably be officially qualified."
Despite the setback, the Russian has enjoyed a strong end to the season, securing his place in Turin and returning to the world's top five for the first time since January 2025.
Medvedev's Response and Appeal
The former world No. 1 appears to have appealed the default, though he still has zero points for the China Open, according to the ATP website. Addressing the incident last month, Medvedev explained: "I think you can see a lot of videos where I'm frustrated, and you can see that this one was probably not one of them. If you look at some other videos, I've been more frustrated in my life than this one."
He added: "The ball came back to me so I just had a reflex to kind of, you know, I lost the point, I wanted to get rid of the ball, and definitely didn't want to hit anyone, so really unlucky. I'm really grateful that's okay, because that's, you know, the most important."
"The rest is, how you call it, bureaucracy, I don't know if you have this word in English, but I'm glad that the guy's okay. About the appeal? I don't know if I can comment. You know, like when the case is ongoing, I don't know, so I have no idea. Whenever it's finished I will comment."
Strong Finish to the Season
While Medvedev still seems to be awaiting a decision on any appeal, he has moved past the incident. He successfully defended a title for the first time in his career at the recent Almaty Open and reached the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters and the Vienna Open, helping him qualify for the ATP Finals.
A former champion of the year-end event, Medvedev is the No. 4 seed and has been drawn in the Ivan Lendl Group. He will face Carlos Alcaraz, Flavio Cobolli, and Frances Tiafoe in his round-robin matches, with the two group winners from each side advancing to the knockout semi-finals.
