“Always behaves like a baby”, “ridiculous behavior” – Tennis fans slam Daniil Medvedev for ‘racket abuse’ during practice session at Cincinnati Open

Daniil Medvedev has angered several tennis fans by throwing his racket in frustration during a practice session with Holger Rune at the Cincinnati Masters.

After receiving a bye in the opener, Medvedev is set to lock horns with Italy's Lorenzo Musetti in the second round on Wednesday. The World No. 3 beat Musetti in straight sets at the Canadian Open last week.

Medvedev held a practice session with Holger Rune on Monday in Cincinnati. The Russian seemed to struggle with his serve on a windy afternoon and at one point, in a fit of anger, he sent his racket flying across to the backboard.

Many fans on social media were not impressed with Medvedev and termed his behavior immature. One fan jokingly suggested that the Russian might do well in baseball owing to his racket-throwing skills.

"DANIIL got good form. He could be a baseball pitcher," the fan wrote.

"I'm tired of this violent thug," another fan opined.

One user lamented Daniil Medvedev's behavior and questioned why the Russian "always gets a pass."

"This guy always behaves like the baby. I don't know why he always gets a pass," the user wrote.

"Ridiculous behavior," another fan tweeted.

Here are a few more fan reactions to Daniil Medvedev's latest antics:

"You try to work on something in practice, but it doesn't matter unless you're able to do it in a match" - Daniil Medvedev

Daniil Medvedev

Daniil Medvedev is looking to make the most of his time at the Cincinnati Masters as he looks to gain momentum ahead of the US Open. After a disappointing outing at the Canadian Open last week, the World No. 3 interacted with the media prior to his opening match in Cincinnati.

“It's my last tournament before the US Open, important tournament, Masters 1000," he said. "In Toronto, unfortunately I didn't do everything that I wanted to do with my game. Most important is going to be to try to win the matches. The draw is pretty packed, I would say very strong. So looking forward."

Medvedev was downed by Alex De Minaur in the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open. He reflected on his performance against the Australian and lamented not being able to put his opponent under pressure. He also spoke about the stark difference between practice sessions and matches.

“I felt like I was missing a little bit one shot where I could just hit the guy straight away and put him in trouble. Two, three days I have in practice and hopefully I can integrate it also during the tournament," he said.

"But the thing is that the practice is so different to tournament. So as I said, you try to work on something in practice, but it really doesn't matter unless you're going to be able to do it in a match. But that's what you're trying to do,” he added.