Daniil Medvedev was apologetic after delivering some strong words to Adel Nour as the Russian met with the chair umpire post-match to say he was sorry for his remarks.
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After blowing four match points and losing the second set to Tallon Griekspoor, the No. 1 seed was slapped with a violation.
That didn't make him happy at all and he lashed out at Nour, calling him "very soft" and wondering if the chair umpire had something against him because he was a Russian player.
Following the incident, Medvedev also lost the third set as the 47th-ranked Dutch went on to complete a 2-6 7-6 (7) 7-5 comeback win.
The 2021 US Open champion maybe didn't end on the winning side but he still didn't want to leave Dubai before apologizing to Nour.
Medvedev: I apologized, referees on the Tour don't care about our nationalities
"I went too far, of course. We already talked after the match, the 29-year-old told Championat.
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I've known this referee for a long time, and it's not even about him. All the referees on the ATP Tour don't care where you're from, who you are. They're just trying to do their job the best they can.
It's clear that someone will always be unhappy, so I just said that out of the blue. We talked, I apologized. I said that, to be honest, I dont remember everything I said, thats true.
And Im not sure if there was something where I said something offensive, but if there was, I asked for forgiveness for it."
In the same interview, Medvedev also noted that he "respects" Nour as an umpire.
Over the years, the Russian has had a couple of moments with chair umpires, with the one when he called an umpire "a little cat" probably being his top moment.
