Daniil Medvedev became the latest high seed to fall at the Paris Masters losing his temper before losing his match to Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday (AEDT).
After second seed Carlos Alcaraz tumbled against qualifier Roman Safiullin late the previous evening, Medvedev, seeded third, open Wednesday’s play at Bercy by losing a marathon to 17th-ranked Dimitrov, 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/2).
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In a match that lasted two hours and 54 minutes, Medvedev was always chasing and at one point in the second set threatened to stop if the crowd kept whistling him, although he later said he was determined to win over the Paris fans.
Dimitrov broke in the sixth game of the match on his way to the first set. Medvedev broke in the sixth game of the second set and led 5-2 before Dimitrov fought back.
When the Bulgarian broke to 5-5, Medvedev threw his racket which brought whistles from the crowd. That further upset the Russian.
“I’m not going to play when they whistle,” Medvedev shouted at the umpire who replied by telling the Russian: “The more you stop, the more it annoys them. The more they whistle.”
Medvedev still refused to go on.
“They’re stupid! If they don’t whistle, I’ll play!”, Medvedev said before telling the crowd: “I play guys, but shut your mouths, okay!”
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Medvedev has had a series of run ins with Parisian fans.
In May, he gestured for the crowd to shut up at Roland Garros and has complained on previous visits to Bercy.
After a time violation warning from the umpire, Medvedev resumed and edged the tie-break on his first set point.
“When I throw my racket, I’m allowed to get whistled at, it’s a bad reaction,” he later told the press conference.
“On the other hand, if I serve, and they whistle and applaud at the same time, it’s a bit weird”.
“That’s the public at Bercy, everyone knows it, not everyone likes playing here. I played much better at Bercy when there was nobody there,” he said, mentioning his victory in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Here, with me, it doesn’t connect,” he said.
“I’ll be back and I’ll try to do my best,” he said, adding he hoped to “turn the crowd around”.
In the final set, Dimitrov took the initiative when he broke, again in the sixth game. Medvedev saved four match points before breaking serve in the ninth game. The Russian saved two more match points before holding in his final service game to force a tie-break.
But the Bulgarian raced to a 5-0 lead and, after Medvedev took two points on serve, finished the match.
Dimitrov said he regretted letting a 40-15 lead slip on Medvedev’s serve in tenth game.
“I just didn’t go enough for my shots,” said Dimitrov. “Against a player like him, he’s going to take it, simple as that.” World No. 1 Novak Djokovic still has to make his first appearance in the afternoon, against 31st ranked Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry (31st).