US Open: Daniil Medvedev angers crowd by tossing aside towel, giving obscene gesture

Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev drew the ire of the New York crowd Friday night with a meltdown and a sneaky obscene gesture during his third-round match against Spain's Feliciano Lopez in the U.S. Open. 

Medvedev, the fifth seed, received a code violation with the first set tied 5-5 at Louis Armstrong Stadium when he angrily snatched the towel out of the hands of a ballperson, tossed it aside and said something to the man.

When the code violation was announced by chair umpire Damien Dumusois, Medvedev, 23, threw his racket in frustration, though nothing further was called for that infraction. 

Medvedev is in a foul mood, throws a tantrum at the towel guy then throws his racket when the code violation is announced #USOpenpic.twitter.com/YyNtfbR0ry

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Fans let him hear it but what really got the crowd going was when he flashed his middle finger on the side of his head as he walked. It was out of the sight of the chair umpire, but was caught live on television and shown on replay at the stadium.

Here’s Medvedev flipping off the crowd on the opposite side of the ump like a child. The ump sees it on the replay but doesn’t give a violation pic.twitter.com/PHW2ivae94

Dumusois indicated he wasn't able to punish Medvedev for the gesture because he had only seen it on replay.

Medvedev won the first set, but Lopez won the second. Medvedev won the third set and got some cheers for a great shot in the tiebreak.

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