Tennis ace Daniil Medvedev drew inspiration from one of his favorite video games for his victory celebration against Novak Djokovic in the final of the U.S. Open in New York City on Sunday night.
In what must’ve been one of the most bizarre match-winning responses ever witnessed in the world of professional tennis, the Russian champion performed the wacky “dead fish celebration” more commonly associated with the FIFA video game series.
Familiar to FIFA aficionados, the unusual celebration involves jumping up, stiffening the body, and dropping to the ground. Like a dead fish (sort of).
Wrapping up his post-match interview watched by millions of people around the world, Medvedev commented on his oddball antics, saying, “Very last thing, only legends will understand … what I did after the match was L2 plus left.” While most people will have been baffled by the obscure reference, FIFA fans will have been nodding knowingly, aware that “L2 plus left” describes how gamers can perform the dead fish celebration using a PlayStation controller (PlayStation: Press L2 and hold the right stick left; Xbox: Press LT and hold the right stick left).
In a later press conference with the world’s media, Medvedev elaborated: “I like to play FIFA. I like to play PlayStation. It’s called the dead fish celebration. If you want to annoy your opponent when you play FIFA, many times you’re going to do this one. You score a goal, you’re up 5-0, you do this one.”
Medvedev said he performed the surprise celebration not because he’s after even more media attention, but because he wanted to make the moment special for himself and to entertain his friends and everyone else watching.
The new U.S. Open champion added that it would’ve been better if he could’ve done it at Wimbledon back in the summer as the grass courts would’ve offered a softer landing, but he went out in the fourth round.
Commenting on his fall onto Arthur Ashe Stadium’s rather firmer playing surface, Medvedev said, “It’s not easy to make it on hard courts. I got hurt a little bit.”
