Serena Williams' ex-coach reacts to Daniil Medvedev imitating Holger Rune's hiked-up shorts gesture in duo's tense QF match at Indian Wells

Serena Williams' former coach Rennae Stubbs recently shared her thoughts on Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune's heated quarterfinal match at the 2024 BNP Paribas Open.

The quarterfinal match between Medvedev and Rune was high on drama. Things got tense during the second set when Rune's body shot unintentionally struck Medvedev.

Anticipating an apology that didn’t materialize, Medvedev paused at the net seeking one. He then signaled to Rune with an 'I see you' gesture, implying that he was keeping an eye on him. During the match, the former World No. 1 also hiked up his shorts to imitate the mannerisms of the Dane.

The World No. 4 eventually ended up winning the match against seventh-seeded Dane 7-5, 6-4.

Stubbs, who previously worked with Williams at the 2022 US Open, posted a video of Medvedev imitating Rune’s hiked-up shorts gesture on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, March 14.

"Ewwwe loving this @holgerrune2003 @DaniilMedwed match !!! Little argy bargy going on! Then this 👇🏼👇🏼! I was going to go to bed as I am TIREDDDDD but I can’t now!" Stubbs wrote.

In a follow-up tweet, Stubbs defended Rune for the accidental body shot against Medvedev, writing:

"Also there was nothing wrong with what Holger Rune did on that shot btw."

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Daniil Medvedev clears the air following heated exchange with Holger Rune during Indian Wells QF

During the post-match press conference, Daniil Medvedev clarified that his issue with Holger Rune was not personal.

Medvedev acknowledged that being hit by the ball was a common occurrence in tennis. Furthermore, the Russian also expressed regret for his own response and urged both the press and fans to move past the incident.

"Oh, no, nothing against Holger. As I say, it's just I didn't see him say sorry after he went for me, you know. And I don't think, again, I do this sometimes also. You know, you run for the balls, it's not an easy ball because you go cross, you go line, it's actually a good tactic to go at your opponent, but then you say sorry and you forget about it," Daniil Medvedev said.

"Normally, you know -- well, I'm not going to go to other situations. I think that when you say sorry usually this gets forgotten straightaway and stuff like this. I didn't see it. So I got mad. But it was, it happened, and then when they both told me it happened, that's when I was from my side, sorry for my reaction. Let's move forward, yeah," he added.

Daniil Medvedev will now be facing 17th seed Tommy Paul in the semifinal on Saturday, March 16. Paul defeated ninth seed Casper Ruud 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 to book a spot in the last four. Whoever out of Medvedev or Paul triumphs, will take on either second seed Carlos Alcaraz or third seed Jannik Sinner in the Indian Wells final.