On the way into the catacombs, he held up the middle finger of his right hand, turned it in all directions and pretended to examine it with interest.
When asked about the action in the following press conference, the current number three in the ATP world rankings explained: “I just checked my nails.” He later repeated that he had only checked his nails and added: “No, really, more is not it. Why should I do this to this beautiful crowd in Paris-Bercy?”
It became clear during the game that there was no harmony between Medvedev and the Paris audience. When the score was 5:5 in the second set, the spectators booed him after a frustrated racket throw.
The Russian then refused to continue playing and began a discussion with the referee. “I don’t keep playing when they whistle,” he told Renaud Lichtenstein.
He then continued the game anyway, as otherwise he would have been threatened with disqualification in the worst case scenario. “The crowd didn’t stop booing,” he said, describing the situation after the game: “When I got a warning, I thought: ‘Do I really want to be disqualified and end the game like that? No.’ So I went to play.”
But the Russian will probably no longer warm up to Paris. It’s fine for him if he’s booed after throwing a bat, “but if I serve and they applaud or I get booed, that’s another problem.”
For this reason, “not everyone likes playing here in Paris,” Medvedev explained: “I played much better in Bercy when there was no audience at all.” Already after his first round exit at this year’s French Open, Medvedev was not very enthusiastic about it French audience.
2023-11-02 10:55:36
#Middle #finger #scandal #Medvedev #talks #strange
