Pat McAfee weighs in on controversial Daniil Medvedev and Jack Draper IW hindrance call

ESPN’s Pat McAfee never discusses tennis on his daily show so fans knew it had to be something controversial to get his attention as to the happenings at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

McAfee joined a chorus of other people online and elsewhere talking about the chair umpire’s ruling on the hindrance argument made by Daniil Medvedev against Jack Draper during their quarterfinal match.

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What Pat McAfee said

In classic McAfee fashion, there was some profanity in his tweet. Admitting he does not know much about tennis, he still labeled the call “bu$$s&*t.”

His argument, similar to Jack Draper’s, was that Draper’s arm motion was not significant enough to constitute a distraction and therefore a hindrance to Daniil Medvedev.

The chair umpire seemed uncertain which way to rule but ultimately went with Medvedev.

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After the match, Draper and Medvedev exchanged civil words about the call with Draper contending it was not a hindrance.

Siding with Pat McAfee, former ATP player Tennys Sandgren argued that if Medvedev felt this way, he should have stopped the point. He should not be asking for the call four shots later.

Technology could not make the call

Tennis has gone to electronic calling for virtually everything: faults, foot faults, and balls that are out. That has taken some of the arguments and subjectivity out of the sport and sped up the games.

Besides the administration of the time clock which Carlos Alcaraz recently used his own profanity to speak out about, a situation like Medvedev and Draper’s is another area where the chair umpire inserts him or herself into the match by potentially making a match-deciding call.

Mededev won the first set convincingly, but the second set was tied at 5-5 when this call was made. Had it gone Draper’s way, would it have made the difference and fueled a comeback? We will never know.

One thing is for sure, if Pat McAfee, with his immense popularity on ESPN, which has broadcasting rights for three of tennis’s four Grand Slams (Australian Open, Wimbledon, and US Open), proclaims he does not like tennis because of these shenanagins, it will not help the sport gain new followers and fans.

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