"Daniil Medvedev puts butts in the seats" - Jimmy Connors hails Russian's display of emotions and rising popularity

Daniil Medvedev's on-court antics including racquet smashes and gesturing to the crowd, has caught the attention of former Grand Slam champion Jimmy Connors.

In the podcast, Advantage Connors, father-son duo Brett and Jimmy Connors discussed the World No. 3 getting into altercations with the crowd and displaying his emotions on-court. Brett Connors also drew a parallel to the Russian's temperament to that of his father who was also quite a mercurial player back in the 1980's.

Jimmy Connors hailed Medvedev's exuberant personality and believed it added to the former US Open champion's rising popularity.

"I kind of like his personality. He gives you something more than just the hitting of the tennis ball, which certainly draws the fans in, like him or not. They're going to come and watch him play and basically, you know, he put butts in the seats," he said.

Connors also cited Andy Murray as an example, recalling that the Scot smashed his racquet after losing to Alex DeMinaur in the opening round of the Paris Masters. He added that players were more reserved on-court now than they were before.

"I saw a picture of Murray going to the sidelines and beating the crap out of his racquet. What's wrong with that? I don't see what's wrong with that either. I think that's where times have changed. Now it's ooh, persona non-grata to do things like that," he added.

Daniil Medvedev set to make his 5th appearance at ATP Finals

Daniil Medvedev at the 2023 Austria Open

Daniil Medvedev is set to compete at the 2023 ATP Finals scheduled from Sunday, November 12, in Turin. This will be the Russian's fifth consecutive appearance at the prestigious year-end event.

The World No. 3 has five titles to his name this season - Rotterdam Open, Doha International, Dubai Open, Miami Masters and Paris Masters. He currently holds the leading position in number of matches won this year with an impressive 64-16 win-loss record.

Medvedev reflected on his run this season at the recently concluded Vienna Open where he finished as the runner-up.

"I started the year very strongly by winning the first two 500s I played in Rotterdam and Dubai, so that opened a big gap on a lot of players and I have managed to finish strong at the end here in Vienna,” he said.

Daniil Medvedev is the third player to qualify for the event after Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.