Daniil Medvedev has insisted he did not put his middle finger up to the Paris crowd after being booed by fans throughout his defeat to Grigor Dimitrov.
The 2021 US Open champion lost in three sets against his Bulgarian opponent in the Round of 32 at the Paris Masters on Wednesday.
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At one point during the match, the Russian refused to play due to the intensity of the jeers aimed at him.
This led to him to be given an official time violation by chair umpire Renaud Lichtenstein, which led to an argument between the two.
The drama stemmed from Medvedev throwing his racket onto the ground in the second set, resulting in boos, before the 27-year-old told those in attendance to be quiet.
And as Medvedev was making his way out of the Accor Arena, he appeared to flip the bird at the spectators, which led to more boos – though he insisted that wasn’t the case.
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He said: “I just checked my nails, like this, no really it’s nothing more than that. Why would I do that to this beautiful crowd in Paris Bercy?
“I threw the racket, I get booed, normal. I don’t see a problem with that. I go to serve and they applaud or something but I want to serve so they shouldn’t applaud.
“So I still serve and the referee was talking during this, so Grigor wasn’t ready.
“This happens, but I get booed, I didn’t see why so I didn’t want to play and that’s actually the end of the story.
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“I was like, ‘OK, until they boo I’m not going to play’. But the Bercy crowd doesn’t stop to boo and then when I got the code I was like, ‘Do I really want to get disqualified and finish the match on this note?’ So I just went on to play.”
Unsurprisingly, tennis fans haven’t bought his explanation, with one X user posting: “Such a great tennis player, such a sore loser.”
Another commented: “ATP should fine this type of things more and money give to someone who need money.”
A third added: “Smart guy, but idiot move. I guess he just wants to increase the animosity.”
This fan then messaged: “He did actually… Medvedev can be rude sometimes & people always laugh it off.”
Meanwhile this person stated: “Shows you how hypocritical he really is. Disgusting behaviour!”