Daniil Medvedev faced a less than supportive Paris Masters crowd during his match against Grigor Dimitrov, which led to boos from the spectators. At one juncture, he seemed inclined to halt the game until the noise subsided, and following his defeat, he seemingly made a gesture towards the fans. However, he later explained with a smile that he was merely inspecting his nails.
Daniil Medvedev appeared to give the crowd the middle finger after being booed during a tempestuous Paris Masters defeat to Grigor Dimitrov.
Medvedev saved six match points before eventually succumbing to a 6-3 6-7(4) 7-6(2) defeat.
The world No. 3 was booed in the second set when he smashed his racquet on the court.
He responded by shushing the crowd but as the jeers continued, he then went to his bench and looked like he would refuse to play on.
Medvedev perhaps stoked things further by waving his arms in the air in the direction of the crowd and putting his finger to his lips to try and silence them.
He was eventually given a time violation after an exchange in French with the umpire.
Explaining his view of the situation, Medvedev said afterwards: “So what happened is I throw the racquet, I get booed. Normal. I don’t see a problem with that.
“I go to serve, they applause or something. But I want to serve. They shouldn’t applause. So I still serve. The referee was talking during this so Grigor was not ready. OK, that happens, but I get booed. I didn’t see why, so I didn’t want to play. That’s actually the end of the story.
“Then I was, like, ‘OK, till they [stop] boo[ing], I’m not going to play’. But Bercy crowd doesn’t stop. So I was like ‘OK’. Then when I got a code, I was, like, ‘do I really want to get disqualified and finish the match on this note? No.’ So I went to play.”
When the match did resume it was Medvedev who took the second set to level up.
But he vented his frustration again in the third set, smashing a racquet and then opting to try and play on with it.
When he then walked off the court following the defeat he appeared to show his middle finger to the crowd.
“No, I didn’t. I just checked my nails,” he said afterwards.
“No, really, it’s nothing more than that. Why would I do that to this beautiful crowd in Paris-Bercy?”
Medvedev was reluctant to confirm if he thought the crowd was the “worst” on tour, but did say he played better at the tournament when he won it in 2020 with no fans in attendance due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I think it just depends the tournament, the way I act, the way the crowd acts. So it’s like all coming together.
“In general, I have a lot of French friends, and they don’t seem to like very much this tournament. Maybe there is a reason.
“Me, generally, yeah, I played much better here without the crowd, so that’s all I can say.”
Dimitrov will go on to face Alexander Bublik in the last 16.
