Despite an outburst, Daniil Medvedev recovered to defeat Kasidit Samrej and advance to the next round at the Australian Open. Credit: ESPN

It wasn’t just Sam Darnold who had a rough Monday night on ESPN โ€” or Tuesday morning for the sticklers out there. But unlike Darnold, Daniil Medvedev actually advanced to the next round.

The Russian tennis star took out his frustrations on the net camera at the Australian Open during his 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory.

But based on his reaction in the clip below, you’d think the No. 5 seeded male tennis player was going to lose to Kasidit Samrej.

And to be fair, the Thai tennis player did have Medvedev on the ropes.

But even after an outburst, which earned him a code violation for racket abuse, he bounced back to win three straight games.

Back to the viral moment at hand.

After a miss, he hammered the net camera a few too many times.

That caught the attention of John and Patrick McEnroe, who were on the ESPN2 call in the early hours of the morning.

It’s nearly impossible to make out what the brothers are saying amid the roaring crowd, but each noted Daniil Medvedev taking his frustrations out on the camera. You can audibly hear Patrick saying, “That camera’s in rough shape.”

Indeed, it was.

“How’s that camera doing?”

“Can we get the close-up of that camera? Here we go.”

Ask, and you shall receive.

You can make out Medvedev rewinding his racket before the camera goes pitch black.

“There it goes.”

“It’s gone.”

“It’s over.”

Daniil Medvedev got the camera on the first shot. And heโ€™s got plenty more shots to take and plenty more chances to claim his first Australian Open title after being runner-up the last 3 of 4 years.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.