Daniil Medvedev has achieved yet another disastrous result this season, being eliminated already in the first round of the US Open where he had triumphed in the 2021 edition (as well as reaching the final in both 2019 and 2023).
The Russian ace is really far from the player who triumphed in New York four years ago and who had risen to the top of the ATP rankings, having lost all his certainties and having given his opponents the right confidence to enter the court with the conviction of being able to beat him.
A really strange episode
The former world No.1 – who had already disappointed expectations in the two Masters 1000 that precede the last Grand Slam of the season (in Toronto and Cincinnati) – was defeated by French player Benjamin Bonzi yesterday, the same opponent who had eliminated him on his debut at the Wimbledon Championships this season.
The match was full of ups and downs and there was a really strange episode at the end of the third set, when Bonzi had match point on his serve. A photographer suddenly entered the court because he was convinced that the challenge was over, an interference that led the chair umpire to concede the first serve again to the French star.
That decision literally infuriated the champion from Moscow, who complained to the chair umpire and caused the crowd to boo the latter. That episode changed the inertia of the match, if we consider that the Russian canceled the match point and forced the fifth set, in which he was ahead by a break before suffering Benjamin's comeback.
Interviewed by 'L'Equipe' immediately after the clash, Nicolas Mahut commented on the episode in question: "That episode was really strange and it happened at a really important moment. I prefer not to make judgments about Daniil's behavior in that circumstance because I don't want to say things I might regret, but I can't imagine Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner behaving like that."
Medvedev has won only one match in Grand Slam tournaments this year.
