Daniil Medvedev diplomatically avoids bashing the crowd at Paris Masters after he showed them the middle finger for booing after losing to Grigor Dimitrov

The Spectators booed at the Russian No.1 while he walked back to the dressing room.

Daniil Medvedev diplomatically avoids bashing the crowd at Paris Masters after he showed them the middle finger for booing after losing to Grigor Dimitrov

Daniil Medvedev (Image via :X)

2020 Paris Masters Champion Daniil Medvedev followed World No.2 Carlos Alcaraz out of the competition, in the second round, as the final Masters tournament of the calendar witnessed 2nd huge upset in as many days. Bulgarian pro Grigor Dimitrov defeated the 3rd seed 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(2) in 2 hours and 54 minutes to get his first win against the Russian in 3 attempts this year. The World no.17 also managed his first win against Dimitrov in 4 attempts on indoor courts.

Although the tennis on display was out of this world as the players played their hearts out, the behavior of the French crowd was less so. The Spectators booed at the Russian No.1 while he walked out of the court post-match. This led to Medvedev apparently flipping the bird on the spectators, displaying his discontent at the spectators’ hostile reception.

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In the post-match press conference, the World No.3 was asked about the behavior of the crowd and whether it was the worst he had ever faced. In response, the Russian said:

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I don't want to say the worst. Well, we have 60 players. 30 of them will love it; 10 players will think that it's not relevant, so on and so forth. So I'm not going to say anything.

He added:

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.

This is not the first time the Russian has received a hostile reception from the crowd. In fact, Medvedev has a difficult relationship with most of the Western crowds. Medvedev told fans to “shut up” during his shock opening-round defeat at the French Open earlier this year. The world No.3 declared post-match:

I was getting booed for whatever reason and I just told them to shut up.

Daniil Medvedev says that he’ll still be glad to return to the Paris Masters next year

While acknowledging that he has some problems with the crowd in Paris, Medvedev said he wouldn’t hesitate to return to compete at the tournament next year. He told the press in Paris:

As for some tournaments, there are some tournaments to which I like to come back, and here, well, I have problems with the crowd. It happens. Maybe in two years we won't play here, but I'm still glad to come back and that's it.
daniil medvedev
Daniil Medvedev (Image via : Reuters)

There’s still plenty to fight for Medvedev this season as he has already qualified for the ATP Finals to be played in Turin, Italy. The Russian has already won the 2020 edition of the year-end championship as he got the better of Austrian pro Dominic Thiem in the final.

Meanwhile, Dimitrov will play against big-serving Kazhak Alexander Bublik in the round of 16 tomorrow. If he manages to win the clash, it will be only the third time in his career that he reaches the quarter-final stage of a Masters tournament. The World No.17 has a decent year win-loss record of 38-20. Bublik leads the head-to-head 3-2.

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