"New episode of 'Imagine if it were Novak Djokovic doing that'"- Fans react to Daniil Medvedev giving Paris Masters crowd the middle finger after loss
Daniil Medvedev had a night to forget at the 2023 Paris Masters on Wednesday, losing his opener to Grigor Dimitrov in a drama-filled three-setter.
After the loss, the Russian was booed by the Parisian crowd when he was exiting the court, to which he responded by giving them a disguised middle finger. As expected, his actions led to a lot of discussion on social media.
Some fans were disappointed by Medvedev, pointing out that he always gets away with such less-than-stellar behavior on the court while other players - Novak Djokovic, for instance - would be vilified for doing the same.
Meanwhile, some fans were more amused by Daniil Medvedev giving the Paris-Bercy crowd the middle finger, stating that it was a refreshing show of personality not often seen on the tour.
"Today, in a new episode of «imagine if it were Novak Djokovic doing that»" one fan tweeted.
"Good riddance, he's lucky he can get away with this behavior no matter how bad the crowd are," another said.
Here are a few more reactions from tennis fans:
"I just checked my nails" - Daniil Medvedev's sarcastic response to why he showed his middle finger to crowd at Paris Masters
Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev was asked about why he showed the middle finger to booing fans at the Paris Masters at his post-loss press conference. The Russian sarcastically replied that he would never do such a thing to the "beautiful crowd" at Paris-Bercy and that he was just checking his nails.
"I just checked my nails, like this," Medvedev joked. "No, really, it's nothing more than that. Why would I do that to this beautiful crowd in Paris-Bercy?"
Medvedev admitted that he deserved to be booed for the time he threw his racquet on the court; at the same time, he emphasized that fans should stop booing him once the moment passed, and he got ready to start playing again.
"During the third set I think I threw the racquet, and when I throw the racquet, I can be booed. I mean, it's normal that I should be booed. But if I'm serving and they applaud and I'm being booed, that's another kettle of fish," Daniil Medvedev said.
"But everybody knows that we lack focus when that happens. Not everyone likes to play here in Paris for this reason. I played in Bercy much better when there was no crowd at all in attendance," he added.