Daniil Medvedev reacts to his row with Paris crowd after showing middle finger to fans

Ewan West
Daniil Medvedev Paris crowd
Daniil Medvedev taunts the Paris crowd

Daniil Medvedev has responded to his clash with the crowd at the Paris Masters after losing a crazy and thrilling encounter to Grigor Dimitrov. 

The 2021 US Open winner fell to a 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-7(2) defeat to the world No 17 in a two-hour-and-56-minute classic in the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 event on Wednesday.

Medvedev received a code violation warning for delay of game after refusing to play, having thrown his racket when he failed to convert two set points at 5-4 in the second set.

The world No 3 was booed and whistled by the crowd for his reaction, with spectators refusing to stop when Medvedev was ready to serve. He returned to his chair twice, shushed the crowd and said: “Shut your mouths”, and also sarcastically encouraged the jeering to continue with his arms.

The Russian managed to hold it together to take the second set and level the match, but ultimately fell to an inspired Dimitrov in a third set tiebreak despite saving six match points and recovering from a 2-5 final set deficit.

Following the rollercoaster contest, Medvedev was seen showing his middle finger to the Parisian crowd as he left the stadium to signal what he thought of their treatment of him.

The 27-year-old then comically denied making the gesture when asked about it in his post-match press conference as he addressed his war with the crowd.

“No I didn’t [show the crowd the middle finger]. 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? (smiling),” said Medvedev.

Medvedev also explained why he refused to play in the second set amid the whistling and booing from spectators.

“So what happened is I threw the racket, they booed. Normal, I don’t see a problem with that. I go to serve, they applause or something. But I wanna 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,” he explained.

“I didn’t see why. So I didn’t wanna play. That’s actually the end of the story. I was, like, ‘Okay, ’til they [don’t] 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.”

The former world No 1, who won the Paris Masters in 2020 when there were no fans present, also suggested he preferred playing the event without the crowd.

“We have 60 players. 30 of them will love it (the tournament), 10 players will think that it’s not relevant, so on and so forth. So I’m not going to say anything. I don’t want to say bad things about this tournament in general. It’s just that it doesn’t work. Every match is the same. Things like that happen,” continued the Russian.

“It depends on the tournament, how I react, how the public reacts. It’s a question of chemistry, of mayonnaise! Plus, I have a lot of French friends. They don’t like this tournament very much, and I think there’s a reason for that.

“As for me, I play much better here when the public isn’t here. Maybe that explains it. Even if I play my career here for 10 years, I’m going to come back and try to do better, especially in terms of tennis, and that’s how you get the public on your side.”

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