Former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev participated in an extraordinary meltdown that involved smashing a microphone during the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.
The world No.4 proved no match for America's Taylor Fritz, succumbing to a 6-4 6-3 defeat in the round-robin tie.
Visibly frustrated, the Russian went for a big second serve down set point, but blasted the ball straight into the net to bring up his third consecutive double fault.
"I have this every day, day in, day out since two, three years. Every practice is a struggle. Every match is a struggle," Medvedev said after the loss.
"Now I feel zero pleasure of being on the court."
After hitting his racquet again on the bench, the chair umpire had no option but to hand Medvedev a code violation.
"I get angry [and] frustrated. This time, completely with myself, not with anyone. Just with myself," Medvedev said after the loss.
Then after being broken for 2-4 in the second set, Medvedev threw his racquet behind him near the stands and hit a microphone which paved the way for an inevitable point penalty, before sarcastically throwing his racquet in the air multiple times after each point.
The crowd hurled boos and jeers when Medvedev pointed his racquet the opposite way when facing Fritz's serve.
"I was like, 'Whatever, I lost the match. I don’t care'," Medvedev said.
Fritz, to his credit, kept his composure and concentration to see out the victory, but found the funny side of it.
"I was just laughing. I think he’s really funny, to be honest," said the current US Open runner-up. "Even when he’s not playing me, he always cracks me up."
"It’s very easy sometimes when someone’s doing that, you can relax and think that they’re just going to be done and then you kind of drop your level. I just had to try to tell myself, 'Stay focused, play a really good 5-3 game because he was going to fight for that game'. Luckily, I served a great game."
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