Tennis fans think Daniil Medvedev gave Paris Masters crowd the middle finger

US Open finalist Daniil Medvedev was dumped out of the Paris Masters by Grigor Dimitrov in the round of 32 on Wednesday following an epic three-set encounter in the French capital. And some tennis fans think the Russian gave the crowd the middle finger as he left the court after being booed throughout the match.

Medvedev has been in scintillating form in recent months and reached the Vienna Open final and the China Open final last month after succumbing to Novak Djokovic in the US Open final in September. But he was unable to topple Dimitrov in Paris as the Bulgarian secured a 6-3 6-7 7-6 victory.

The match proved to be a tense affair, with Dimitrov needing seven match points to close it out. And at one stage during the second set, Medvedev sat at the side of the court and refused to play after being booed by fans in the arena. He eventually resumed the match after being handed a time violation.

At the end of the showdown, Medvedev left the court and was captured by the cameras staring intently at his right hand as he waved it about. And some fans were adamant that he had flipped off the Paris crowd.

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“Sure looks like Daniil Medvedev just gave the crowd in Paris the middle finger in response to some boos as he left the court,” exclaimed @KennyDucey on X (formerly Twitter). Meanwhile, @FS_Tennis1 added: “After squeaky behaviour by the spectators at #RolexParisMasters, Daniil Medvedev left the court, giving the crowd the middle finger.” And @WeAreTennis simply asked: “Middle finger from Daniil Medvedev while leaving the court?”

Medvedev was quizzed about the apparent hand gesture after the match but was quick to deny any wrongdoing. “No, I didn’t,” he protested. “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?”

The booing towards Medvedev came after the player had thrown his racket in anger. And after the match, the 2021 US Open champion said: “So what happened is I throw the racket, I get booed. Normal. I don’t see a problem with that.

“I go to serve, they applaud or something. But I want to serve. They shouldn’t applaud. So I still serve. The referee was talking during this, so Grigor was not ready. Okay, that happens, but I get booed. I didn’t see why, so I didn’t want to play. That’s actually the end of the story. Then I was like, okay. Till they boo, I’m not going to play.

“But Bercy crowd doesn’t stop to boo. So I was like, okay. Then when I got a code, I was like, ‘do I really want to get disqualified and finish the match on this note? No.’ So I went to play.”