"I'm not going to play": Daniil Medvedev refuses to continue play due to crowd at 2023 Paris Masters

Daniil Medvedev stopped play mid-match against Grigor Dimitrov at the 2023 Paris Masters due to the relentless noise of the crowd.

The World No. 3 was facing Grigor Dimitrov in the Round of 32 when the incident occurred at the last ATP 1000 tournament of the year. Although the 27-year-old was fresh from his run to the final at the Vienna Open last week, he visibly struggled in the opening set against the Bulgarian player.

After Dimitrov won the first set 6-3, Medvedev pushed ahead in the second, aiming to force a decider. However, the crowd made it clear whose side they were on, much to the latter's discontent.

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Medvedev in a battle with Paris-Bercy crowd

Initially in the second set, Medvedev soared ahead to a 5-2 lead and looked ready to level the match with ease. However, Dimitrov was not done fighting back and was able to claw himself to 4-5, meaning that the Russian would have to break his opponent in order to claim the set.

Despite Medvedev building up two break points, Dimitrov continued to retaliate and took it to a deuce as the crowd got audibly more excited. From there, he was able to hold, leading the spectators in the stands to erupt with support for the 32-year-old, chanting "Grigor!" repeatedly.

Therefore, Medvedev seemed distracted as he attempted to serve the first point of the next game, and it wasn't long before the crowd began booing and hissing at him. As the chair umpire called for silence, Medvedev took matters into his own hands, shouting at the crowd to "Be quiet!"

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However, this only served to rile the crowd up more, to such an extent that Medvedev started walking back over to his bench, where he sat down and told the umpire that he did not want to play anymore.

Once again, this only added fuel to the fire, and as he eventually listened to the umpire's reasoning that this reaction to the crowd would not help them to quieten down.

From there, play continued and Medvedev clinched the second set on a tiebreak, forcing a decider.

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"They don't want me to play, I'm not going to play (...) There's one who whistles, I stop." 😭 Good old Daniil Medvedev.

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