Daniil Medvedev threatened to retire from his semi-final match against Rafael Jodar at the Shanghai Masters.
During the first set of their semi-final, Jodar hit a cross-court forehand before Medvedev’s return went long. Medvedev asked for a video review, believing that Jodar’s forehand had missed, but the umpire initially refused, explaining to the former world number one that he could only show the final shot of the rally, which was his missed shot.
Furious with umpire Adel Nour’s explanation, Medvedev said he would retire from the match if he wasn’t shown a replay. After consulting with the tournament referee, Nour let Medvedev watch the replay, which proved the Russian wrong.
Unable to recover, Medvedev lost to Jodar in straight sets, 3-6, 4-6. Former American ATP star Sam Querrey has now delivered his verdict on Medvedev’s antics, sharing whether he believes the 30-year-old actually would have retired from the match.
Sam Querrey says Daniil Medvedev is ‘all talk’ after Shanghai retirement threat
“No, he’s all talk. This is like the semi-final between two bad boys. Both of them a little bit controversial the last couple of weeks. Medvedev [hitting the ball] at a fan in Beijing; that guy is probably still at the hospital after taking a ball to the eye at two and a half miles per hour. And then Jodar, obviously with the ball kid incident earlier this week,” said Querrey during the latest episode of ‘Nothing Major‘.
“I did like in that moment, with the umpire, he basically was like, ‘We are not allowed to show you prior shots. But you are just going to throw a temper tantrum like a child, so how about we just show it to you and move on.’ Good on the ref there,” added Steve Johnson, Querrey’s podcast co-host.
Tell us the five names you think will qualify for the ATP Finals and why 👇
There’s not many tournaments left to play…
We’ll never know if Medvedev would have retired from the match, but the reality is that it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. The world number five lost anyway, struggling to keep up with the man 10 years his junior.
“I was kind of surprised by this, Jodar, 6-3, 6-4. I think Medvedev is so good. I’m always bullish on Medvedev. I thought he was going to routine Jodar, but Jodar routined Medvedev,” said Querrey.
“The results in Shanghai are always a little wacky, it’s a tough event to predict, but Jodar, just like Zverev, seems to show up every single week. Outside of the US Open, the guy has showed-up at basically every tournament he’s played at since April. His consistency for a youngster is very impressive.”
Rafael Jodar’s best results (2026)
- French Open – Quarter-final
- Shanghai Masters – Final
- Canadian Open – Semi-final
- Madrid Open – Quarter-final
- Italian Open – Quarter-final
- Washington Open – Final
- Grand Prix Hassan II – Champion
Jodar and Medvedev both remain in the ATP Finals qualification places after strong Shanghai Masters campaigns; however, there is still a lot of tennis to be played. Jodar will rest this week before returning to action in Basel, while Medvedev takes to the court in Almaty, Kazakhstan, as the top seed and defending champion.
Can Daniil Medvedev win his fourth title of the season in Almaty?
Medvedev is the top seed and clear favourite to win the 2026 Almaty Open. He is the only top-20 player competing at the event and has won more titles this year than any other seed.
2026 Almaty Open top-eight seeds
| Seed | ATP Rank | Player | 2026 Titles |
| 1 | 5 | Daniil Medvedev | 3 |
| 2 | 23 | Luciano Darderi | 1 |
| 3 | 19 | Alexander Bublik | 1 |
| 4 | 22 | Andrey Rublev | 0 |
| 5 | 25 | Karen Khachanov | 0 |
| 6 | 29 | Tomas Martin Etcheverry | 1 |
| 7 | 39 | Stefanos Tsitsipas | 1 |
| 8 | 50 | Thiago Agustin Tirante | 0 |
Receiving a bye into the second round, Medvedev will play his first match in Almaty on Wednesday, October 21, against Japan’s Sho Shimabukuro, who battled back from a set down to defeat another Russian, Roman Safiullin in his opener.
Looking ahead, Medvedev could play sixth seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the quarter-finals, third seed and home favourite Alexander Bublik in the semis, and the second seed, Luciano Darderi in the final.
Only time will tell if the 2021 US Open champion will lift the trophy in Kazakhstan, but you certainly won’t want to miss any of the action. The 2026 Almaty Open final will be played on Sunday, October 25.
