A Russian tennis star accused the French Open of preferring 'Amazon to people' after being dumped out of the tournament in an empty arena
- Daniil Medvedev accused the French Open of preferring "Amazon to people" after putting his quarterfinal at night.
- Medvedev lost to Stefano Tsitsipas in straight sets in a match played behind closed doors.
- Roland-Garros has an agreement with Amazon Prime to put each day's best match on in the evening.
Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedev angrily accused the French Open of preferring "Amazon to people" after scheduling his quarterfinal defeat against Stefanos Tsitsipas at night without fans.
Medvedev lost to Greece's Tsitsipas in straight sets 3-6, 6-7 (3-7), 5-7 on Tuesday in a match played behind closed doors because of France's coronavirus curfew.
From 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., a curfew is in place in metropolitan France, with people only allowed to leave their homes for work, medical appointments, walking pets, and emergencies.
"Our match was definitely the match of the day, so Roland-Garros preferred Amazon to people," the 25-year-old said after the defeat.
"It's easy as that."
You can see select highlights of Medvedev's defeat to Tsitsipas below:
French Open tournament director Guy Forget said last week that organizers had a commitment with Amazon to schedule each day's match of the day at night.
"We have a commitment with Amazon, which are doing a great job exposing our tournament on a different format now," Forget told Tennis Majors.
"Players are professional and I have to say that most of them, although it's not their ideal choice [to play with no fans], go onto court and perform so well, they're professionals and they know they have a duty towards the game and the tournament.
"And the matches I've seen so far, on Chatrier at night, the quality of the matches was unbelievable."
Speaking after the defeat, Medvedev added that he believes the decision was driven by money and that it reminded him of a similar incident surrounding Formula One's Australian Grand Prix.
In March 2020, plans for the Australian Grand Prix carried on despite the breakout of the global coronavirus pandemic, before the race was eventually cancelled just hours before the first practice session.
"When the pandemic started, they were in Australia ready to race and they asked Lewis Hamilton what does he think about racing in the conditions the world was in right now," Medvedev said.
"He said, 'I don't know what we are doing here.' So they asked him, 'Why do you think they make you race?' He said 'Cash is King.'
"That was the same here."
Medvedev also noted that the prize pool has dropped 15% at this season's tournament, despite Amazon buying the broadcast rights this year.
"The question is: Where is the Amazon money?" - he asked, laughing.
After defeating Medvedev, Tsitsipas faces German Alexander Zverev in the semifinal on Thursday.
On the other side of the men's bracket two quarterfinals will be played Wednesday. Novak Djokovic faces Matteo Berrettini in the match of the day, while Rafael Nadal faces Diego Schwartzman in the other. Both Nadal and Djokovic are heavy favorites to make the semis.