WATCH: Daniil Medvedev’s dance hits meme level, but was he throwing shade at Stefanos Tsitsipas?

Shahida Jacobs 21 May 2023 6:34 AM

Daniil Medvedev in action

Daniil Medvedev’s victory dance to celebrate his Italian Open semi-final win over Stefanos Tsitsipas was always going to the tennis world talking, but did he do it to mock his rival?

The 2021 US Open champion produced a clinical display as he defeated Tsitispas 7-5, 7-5 to book his place in this third ATP Masters 1000 final of the year – he lost in the Indian Wells Open final against Carlos Alcaraz and then won the Miami Open final against Jannik Sinner.

Medvedev, of course, is no stranger to funny celebrations as after winning his maiden Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows two years ago he produced the “dead fish” celebration – something that is common on FIFA PlayStation – while there has also been some weird arm rolling action over the years.

But he took it to another level on Saturday as he rolled out some dance moves and you can rate it for yourself.

“I did once in US Open and it was famous,” he said after the match. “I like the GIF so let’s see what comes up with this one because when you do it, it’s like being in the club completely drunk.

“When you’re dancing, and I have a lot of friends like this, you feel like you’re the god of the dance floor. But then they show you the video, you know, it was not the thing. So I don’t know how did it go but I was just happy to be in my first clay Masters final, looking forward to tomorrow.”

But you can see for yourself if he was “like a god on the dance floor” or not.

During the post-match press conference Medvedev was also told that Tsitsipas also celebrated with a dance when the Greek beat him at the Cincinnati Masters last year.

But he brushed the Tsitsipas mention aside as he once again talked about his friends saying: “This dance when I saw it, they showed me, I saw it on TV straight after. I was like ‘this looks ridiculous’. But when I am going to see it in a year or maybe a month, I am going to be like ‘that’s memories’. That’s memories, that’s fun.”

And here is the Tsitsipas dancing celebration.