Daniil Medvedev's Surreal Match with Birds and Umpire Drama

Daniil Medvedev has lived through some wild nights on Louis Armstrong Stadium, but even by his standards this was surreal: two tiny brown birds on the net, a blistering forehand, a delayed let call – and a former US Open champion absolutely seething.

While Kim Birrell was enduring a nightmare of her own elsewhere on site, blown away 6-1 in a first set that barely lasted 20 minutes against No.18 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, Medvedev was locked in a different kind of battle – not with opponent Sebastian Gorzny, but with the chair umpire and a pair of stubborn feathered intruders.

Birds on the net, tempers on edge

The incident came in the second set of Medvedev’s straight-sets win over the American. Two small birds settled brazenly on top of the net mid-rally. Everyone saw them. No one stopped the point.

Medvedev hammered a forehand that whistled past them, one bird finally jolting into the air as Gorzny failed to get the ball back. Only then did chair umpire Timo Janzen call a let and order the point to be replayed.

Medvedev exploded.

“This is the most ridiculous decisions I’ve seen in my life … this is very bad,” he raged up at the chair, incredulous that play had been allowed to continue until after he’d struck a winner.

In the commentary box, Sam Querrey could hardly believe it either. He marvelled at the birds’ refusal to budge and questioned the timing of the call.

"That was incredible … how did they not move before? I've never seen that before in my life," he said. "It had to be a let, surely. I just don't know why it took (Janzen) so long to call it."

The point was replayed. The moment, though, stuck.

Another chapter in Medvedev’s Armstrong saga

Asked afterwards where this ranked in a career full of chaos and curveballs, Medvedev didn’t hesitate to place it high on the list.

“This would be definitely in the top five,” he said.

He then laid out his frustration in typically sharp detail.

“When they came in, I thought, 'OK, the referee is going to stop the point', and he let it play, like, ‘OK, let’s play.’ And the moment I hit the winner, he was, like, ‘Stop! Stop! Stop!’”

Armstrong and Medvedev already share a complicated history. Last year, on the same court, he crashed out in the first round after a meltdown when the umpire allowed Benjamin Bonzi a second serve because a photographer had stepped onto the court too early. The argument dragged on for more than six minutes.

Go back to 2019 and the arena became the stage for his full villain era: a series of on-court antics, a testy relationship with the crowd, and a post-match interview where he invited fans to keep booing him – a performance that earned him a US$9,000 fine and cult anti-hero status in New York.

So a bird-interrupted rally and a furious debate over a let call? In this theatre, with this player, it almost felt on brand.

Birrell blitzed, Alexandrova ruthless

While Medvedev eventually cooled, Birrell’s task against Alexandrova only grew tougher.

The Australian found herself buried 5-0 down in the blink of an eye in the opening set, barely able to land a blow against the Russian’s clean, heavy ball-striking. She at least avoided the indignity of a double bagel, finally holding serve to get on the board, but Alexandrova still swept through the set 6-1.

The No.18 seed held two set points in that opening stanza. Birrell saved one, clinging briefly to a foothold, but couldn’t fend off the second. The gap in tempo and precision told.

Medvedev moves on, drama in his wake

For Medvedev, this latest Armstrong episode joins a growing catalogue of bizarre flashpoints. Birds, photographers, boos – the court seems to attract chaos whenever he steps on it.

This time, though, the 2021 champion refused to let the row linger.

“It’s OK,” he said later. “It happens.”

He walked off with a straight-sets win, another story added to his New York mythology, and the sense that if something strange is going to happen at this tournament, it will probably happen on Armstrong – and Medvedev will probably be right in the middle of it.