Daniil Medvedev torn into by Russian politician as accusations made after Los Cabos win

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Daniil Medvedev has been branded a “French tennis player” by one of Russia’s State Duma Deputies, who slammed the world No 1 and accused him of turning his back on his home country. It comes after the 26-year-old won his first title of the season in Los Cabos as he gears up for his US Open defence.

Medvedev picked up the title in Los Cabos on Sunday – his first event since before Wimbledon, with all players from Russia being banned from competing at the All England Club. It was also the world No 1’s first title of the season and came at the perfect time, as he successfully began the North American hard-court swing in the build up to his US Open title defence.

Despite coming away victorious, the Moscow-born tennis star found himself at the centre of accusations from a Russian politician, who slammed Medvedev for accepting the decision to play as a neutral. “Firstly, I congratulate Daniil Medvedev on a well-deserved victory,” State Duma Deputy Roman Teryushkov said in a post on his Telegram social media profile, before ripping into the 26-year-old.

“I, like most Russians, did not watch his final match. After the tennis player removed the Russian flag at the request of the West, he became of little interest to me and the population of our country,” the former Minister of Physical Culture and Sports of the Moscow Oblast continued, referring to the ATP, WTA and ITF’s decision to make all players from Russia and Belarus compete as neutrals, with no mention of their country or flag.

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Teryushkov also made reference to Medvedev’s ability to speak fluent French and his Monaco residence as he added: “Secondly, I don’t really understand what ‘Russian tennis player’ Daniil Medvedev means.

“If he lives in France and probably has the citizenship of a country officially designated by Moscow as unfriendly, then it would probably be more correct to write ‘a French tennis player of Russian origin.’”

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And the former sports minister hit out at tennis as a whole, as he claimed it should be low in the country’s list of sports to prioritise. “Thirdly, tennis is a wonderful sport. But for Russia it cannot be the leader, much less the main one,” he wrote.

“The number of people involved is 185 thousand people with a population of 145 million. This is 0.13 per cent of those involved. Russians are much more fond of checkers and chess.”

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