Daniil Medvedev lost to Bulgarian veteran, Grigor Dimitrov in a thrilling Round of 32 clash at the Paris Masters. Afterwards, the Russian surprisingly claimed he felt like not playing because of the constant booing. He slammed the audience in Paris and seemingly made an offensive gesture as he left the court.
The No.3 seed Medvedev received a bye into the second round like all seeded players. He crossed paths with Dimitrov, who had defeated Lorenzo Musetti in the previous round. The Bulgarian won the first set but Medvedev bounced back to win the second in a tiebreak. He faltered in the decider as Dimitrov raced to match point with a 5-2 lead. However, the Russian saved six match points to push the third set into a tiebreak. The underdog, though, held on to win 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-2) after nearly three hours.
At the post-match press conference, Medvedev was asked about his feelings about the crowd. He was jeered after throwing his racket in the second set, so much so he even threatened to stop playing. He did not have a problem being booed for throwing rackets, saying it was normal.
The World No.3 said the crowd made noise when he was getting ready to serve, adding that Dimitrov, too, was not ready because the umpire was regulating the audience. He said he did not want to play because he found the booing unnecessary.
“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. Okay, 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.”
Medvedev said he resolved to not play until the crowd stopped. But when he got a code violation, he realised he did not want to end the match by getting disqualified, hence continuing to play.
“Then I was, like, okay. Till they boo, I’m not going to play. But Bercy crowd doesn’t stop to boo. So I was, like, okay. 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.”
Even as Medvedev left the court after his shock defeat, sections of the crowd continued jeering at him. Walking back into the tunnel, the 2020 Paris Masters champion appeared to sneakily flip off the audience.
Medvedev giving the paying Paris fans the middle finger. 😬pic.twitter.com/WHRqD9fY7s
— Pavvy G (@pavyg) November 1, 2023
Daniil Medvedev denies making lewd gesture
Many videos posted on social media captured Daniil Medvedev making an obscene gesture as he walked off the court after his defeat. However, at the press conference, he denied making any indecent signals. He refused to admit that he gave the one-finger salute, saying he was just checking his nails. He refused to accept it was anything else, calling the Paris Masters crowd ‘beautiful’, smiling cheekily.
“No, I didn’t. I just checked my nails, like this (demonstrating). No, really, it’s nothing more than that. Why would I do that to this beautiful crowd in Paris-Bercy?”
After his upset victory, Dimitrov will face Alexander Bublik in the Round of 16. Medvedev, meanwhile, will look to dust himself off and put up a better showing at the upcoming ATP Finals in Turin.
