Sports are defined by moments. Moments captivate us, anger us and most importantly, entertain us. With the rise in short-form content, such moments are only increasingly consumed by the masses all over social media. Moments in sports are critical to defining our fandoms, and our opinions formed from them define our views of the players. Pivotal moments such as Kawhi Leonard’s Game 7 buzzer beater or Antonio Brown’s walk off the field shape viewers' opinions on the players, regardless of what side you’re on. They may generate adoration, but more often than not, they lead to outrage.
Outrageous moments like these create a cycle of passionate hate. Fans see a clip that sparks outrage, and then each preceding moment by a player only generates further negative reaction. In this column series, aptly titled “Love To Hate,” I will detail moments in a player’s career that lead to them being widely regarded as a ‘hated’ player within their respective sport. With the U.S. Open in session as our semester begins, it is only fitting that we cover the Association of Tennis Professionals, the world’s professional tennis organization.
While tennis is regarded as a sport that prides itself on respect for the individual players, the ATP has its fair share of controversy. After inciting the crowd and causing a play stoppage on a match point of nearly seven minutes, Russia’s Daniil Medvedev is definitely on tennis fans’ bingo card for most controversial. His rage-filled and hot-tempered character, ready to burst into outrage, is a refreshing change to a sport that is generally devoid of any player interaction, sans the post-match smiles and handshakes.
Medvedev has a track record of controversial moments. In 2017, in a time without electronic umpires, he threw coins at an umpire after a loss against Belgium’s Ruben Bemelmans in five sets. This year, he was fined $76,000 for treating the Australian Open like a rage cage, smashing cameras and rackets in the first two rounds.
His biggest outburst of childish behavior came on Aug. 24 after the chair umpire awarded his opponent, France’s Benjamin Bonzi, a first serve when a let was called because of a cameraman interfering on the court. The umpire’s decision was not controversial in any form — players are awarded first serve when a let is called, but Medvedev turned the match point into a tennis version of a baseball team manager storming out of the dugout after a bad ring-up. He looked into the TV camera, saying about the umpire, “He gets paid by the match, not by the hour.”
From camera views, his wife appeared visibly upset, and tennis fans were too, but his anger spurred a flurry of reactions from the most dedicated fans of tennis to the casual social media viewer. I will attempt to quantify how ‘hated’ Medvedev truly is compared to other players by providing a ‘hate index,’ an analysis of audience sentiment sourced from comment-based news sites, including X and Reddit.
‘Hate Index’ Ranking
Using standard big data techniques and analysing sentiment through the 100 most negative posts on both platforms, I wrote a program to determine an average negativity rating, with this scale: 0.0-0.1 as neutral, 0.1-0.2 as slightly negative, 0.2-0.3 as moderately negative, 0.3-0.4 as very negative and 0.4+ as extremely negative. Medvedev earns an average negativity rating of 0.26. While some fans are certainly quick to complain about the Russian’s ill behavior, data suggests audience views are relatively mild.
Medvedev’s character certainly propels along some of these controversial moments on tour, but his increasing prevalence of ‘hateable’ moments is likely due to a recent slew of poor performances, especially in major tournaments and grand slams. The ATP certainly discourages players from behaving poorly, with significant fines expected to come Medvedev’s way after his underperforming first-round exit, but they do not ban errant behavior, leaving room for characters like Medvedev, whether you like it or not. In a post-match interview, when asked about his actions toward the chair umpire during the match, he summarized his actions using a quote by the great Portuguese football manager and ex-player Jose Mourinho: “If I speak, I’m in big trouble, so I’m not going to speak.”
