Daniil Medvedev appeared to give fans the middle finger as he left the court (Picture: Tennis TV)
Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedev shushed booing fans and refused to play until they stopped in a meltdown at the Paris Masters on Wednesday – but denied putting his middle finger up to spectators as he left the court.
The world No.3, who finished as runner-up at the US Open in September to Novak Djokovic, lost to world No.17 Grigor Dimitrov – with the Bulgarian winning 6-3 6-7 7-6 in a heated match packed with controversy in the French capital.
While serving at 5-5 in the second set, Medvedev was jeered by the Paris crowd and reacted by putting his finger to his lips as he attempted to shush them.
But that only caused more booing from spectators as Medvedev walked back to his bench.
Medvedev waved his arms in the air in frustration and turned to the umpire to say: ‘Tell them to be quiet and I’ll play.’
As the chair official addressed the crowd, Medvedev went back and forth between the court and the sidelines, delaying play even more, and was slapped with a time violation.
Despite the incident, Medvedev went to take the second set 7-6 to set up a deciding third set, in which Dimitrov came out on top to reach the third round.
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As he walked off the court, it appeared that Medvedev put his middle finger up to the crowd but he denied it, saying after the match: ‘Middle finger? No. I was looking at my nail. Why would I do that to this beautiful Parisian crowd?’
It is not the first time this year that Medvedev has fallen out with French fans after a similar incident during his shock first-round loss at Roland-Garros in May.
Just like at the Paris Masters, Medvedev was booed and attempted to shush the crowd as he crashed out in extraordinary fashion to Thiago Seyboth Wild.
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‘Tell them to be quiet and I’ll play.’