Daniil Medvedev, the No. 13 overall seed at the 2025 US Open, was facing down the barrel of an embarrassing elimination in the first round of the competition on Sunday night.
Facing match point at 6-3, 7-5, 5-4 against Benjamin Bonzi, the 2021 champion got an unexpected breather when a photographer came onto the court after the underdog Frenchman’s first serve missed.
The photographer was escorted from the premises and had his credentials revoked, according to the USTA.
Chair umpire, Greg Allensworth, gave Bonzi his first serve back after the delay, which prompted Medvedev to melt down.
“Are you a man? Why are you shaking?” Medvedev boomed at Allensworth while running toward the umpire’s chair. “He wants to go home, guys. He doesn’t like it here. He gets paid by the match, not by the hour.”
Medvedev then shouted that “Reilly Opelka was right,” referencing the American tennis player’s comments in February, saying that Allensworth “shouldn’t have a job or should be sidelined for about four weeks,” after he penalized him for swearing at a fan at the Dallas Open.
While Allensworth tried to restore order, the US Open crowd ramped up the volume, which included chants of “second serve.”
The delay lasted roughly six minutes, and Bonzi understandably asked Allensworth why Medvedev was not receiving a time violation for working the crowd into a frenzy.
“Daniil started it,” Bonzi said after the match. “He put oil on the fire.”
“They did the work,” Medvedev rebutted. “I didn’t do anything. The crowd did what they did without me asking them too much, and it was fun to witness.”
A rattled Bonzi momentarily lost his touch, allowing Medvedev to storm back and take the third set before romping to a 6-0 fourth-set win. But in the winner-take-all fifth set, Bonzi stabilized for a 6-4 win and a match victory.
The petulant Medvedev then proceeded to brood in his chair after shaking hands with Bonzi and destroying his racket — the frustration obvious after dropping his third straight first-round match at a Grand Slam.
Bonzi will meet American Marcos Giron in the second round on Wednesday.
“It was crazy,” Bonzi said. “I maybe got some new fans, but also some non-fans. It was wild. A crazy scenario… I never experienced something like that. It was so difficult to play. So noisy during points, between points. I tried to stay calm, and at the end, I gave all I had.”
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