PARIS: There will be no flags or fanfare for Daniil Medvedev at the Paris Olympics, but the most visible Russian athlete in the French capital is unlikely to stay out of the headlines.
The tennis star, along with other Russian and Belarusian players attending the Games, will have to compete as neutrals following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
After proving that they did not support the war and had no ties to the military, they were allowed to compete, but they will not be able to fly the national flag.
The national anthems of the two countries are also banned, and if Medvedev were to win an Olympic medal for the first time, the achievement would not be recognized in the medal table.
“When I am 40, if I can say that I played at the Olympics in Tokyo, Paris and Los Angeles, that I had a lot of fun in my life and in my career, I will be happy,” Medvedev said.
The 28-year-old world number 5 is one of the most controversial tennis players.
The 1.98m (6ft 6in) giant nearly disqualified from this month's Wimbledon semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz for a vulgar tirade against the umpire, before escaping with a warning.
Medvedev explained that he had called the official “a little cat.”
His explosive temperament has led him to clash with rivals Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev.
In Miami in 2018, after Tsitsipas made a vulgar comment about Medvedev, the Russian dismissed the Greek as a “kid who doesn't know how to play.”
His rivalry with Zverev reached its peak in Monte Carlo last year, when Medvedev saved two match points in a hard-fought round of 16 victory.
Germany's Zverev has hit out at Medvedev for taking a bathroom break at a key moment in the match, calling the Russian “one of the most unfair players in the world”.
Medvedev responded, telling the current world No. 4 to “take a look in the mirror.”
In the Netflix series “Break Point,” Zverev accused Medvedev of playing “dirty games” and added: “He's someone who knows how to play with his opponent's head.”
Crowds around the world did not escape Medvedev's wrath.
At last year's Paris Masters, he called fans “stupid” for booing him during one of his matches.
Despite being suggested to stop the game, he agreed to continue, but warned his captors: “Shut your mouths, okay!”
Despite his fiery personality, Medvedev, a chess player and fluent French speaker, has reached the heights of the sport.
At the 2021 US Open, he captured his only major title, easily defeating Novak Djokovic in the final and denying the Serb one of the rare Grand Slam titles on the calendar.
True to his unorthodox nature, Medvedev celebrated the victory in New York by falling to the ground in Arthur Ashe Stadium and imitating the “dead fish” party from a FIFA video game.
Medvedev came painfully close to adding more titles to his collection.
In the final of this year's Australian Open he lost to Jannik Sinner, after having been up by two sets.
Two years ago in Melbourne he started the match with a two-set lead over Rafael Nadal, but then lost again in five sets.
Nadal also prevailed in the 2019 US Open final, playing another five-set match.
Away from the Slams, Medvedev is one of only six men to have won six or more Masters titles, joining Djokovic, Roger Federer, Nadal, Andre Agassi and Andy Murray.
When he spent 16 weeks atop the world rankings in 2022, he became the first man in 18 years other than Djokovic, Federer, Murray and Nadal to reach the top spot.
At the Paris Olympics, which open on Friday, Medvedev believes his best chance of winning a medal will be in doubles rather than singles, on a clay surface that has often been alien to his game.
“I will prepare a lot for the doubles and mixed doubles because I think I have more chances there than in the singles at Roland Garros,” she said.
