Photo credit: Rob Newell/CameraSport
Wimbledon—The crocodile on his shirt was swimming in sweat and Daniil Medvedev was drowning in disarray.
Wrapping an ice towel around his neck to ward off the blazing heat, Medvedev had no panacea for a blistering Benjamin Bonzi.
World No. 69 Bonzi burned Medvedev with deep drives, upsetting the ninth-seeded Russian 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 in the Wimbledon first round.
"Tough, I mean, sad," Medvedev told the media afterward. "But the match is over, so nothing I can do. I felt him playing very well. I felt like I didn't play too bad. So yeah, I don't see much I could do better. I mean, it's grass, so I could serve better on the tiebreaks.
"But, I mean, surprised by his level. I know that he can play well. I mean, it's just after the match, so I need to see the video and be sure about what I say. I would be surprised if you find a match of him playing like this any other match this year. I'm surprised he did today. But it can happen."
It is Bonzi’s first grass-court win since his run to the 2022 Newport quarterfinals and his second career Top 10 victory after his 2024 win over Casper Ruud in Metz.
“This is a special one for me today,” Bonzi said. “This is my first Top 10 win in a Slam. Daniil is a great player so I knew it was a tough match, but I know in the first round anything can happen…
“He’s not used to the court… Today it’s 50-50…I had nothing to lose so big fight to play my A game.”
Major malaise has hit Medvedev, who suffered his second straight Grand Slam first-round exit coming a month after he lost to Cameron Norrie in his Roland Garros opener.
A year ago, Medvedev toppled top-seeded Jannik Sinner to reach his second straight SW19 semifinal.
Today, Mevedev’s Slam spiral continued: He has scored just one Grand Slam win this season. That came against No. 418 Kasidit Samrej in the Australian Open first round before left-handed American Learner Tien took Medvedev down in the AO second round.
This is Medvedev’s most disappointing major defeat as it came after he reached the Halle final on grass—and against an opponent who took the court mired in a six-match Tour-level losing streak on lawn.
Failing to defend his 2024 semifinal points drops Medvedev out of the Top 10 to No. 14 in the live rankings.
"Well, it's not panicking. But I was really worried after 's-Hertogenbosch," Medvedev said. "It's a lot of losses in a row, different ones. Sometimes it's on clay against Casper or Lorenzo, who are playing amazing, and Casper wins a tournament after this, and Lorenzo is making semi-finals. Sometimes it is against Reilly in 's-Hertogenbosch…
"Not too worried. I'm for sure very disappointed about the fact that I lost. It's okay. Now hard courts. If I manage to play like I did in Halle, honestly even like I did today, I do feel like I can come back to top 10. It's a matter of one result, right?"
Bonzi’s box was packed with supporters, including former Grand Slam doubles champion Nicolas Mahut, and he exuded more energy and aggression throughout the match.
The Frenchman combated Medvedev’s flat strikes with timely trips to net. Bonzi won 30 of 44 trips to net and converted three of four break point chances.
Bending low for a fine half volley, Bonzi forced a netted pass for set points and seized a one-set lead hammering a wide serve
Wrapping an ice towel around his neck during changeovers, Medvedev looked more like a man facing Flushing Meadows swelter in August than a man battling on opening day at SW19.
Digging in, Medvedev rally from love-30 down in the 12th game smacking and ace and swatting a running forehand winner down the line to force the third-set tiebreaker.
In the tiebreaker, Bonzi used forward thinking and aggressive court positioning to tighten the tension from the former US Open champion.
It worked.
Medvedev double faulted to fall behind 3-4, missed a backhand down the line then netted a forehand pass and slammed his Tecnifibre racquet to the turf in disgust facing triple set point at 6-3.
Bonzi blasted a forehand return right back through the middle handcuffing the 2024 semifinalist to snatch the third set with a loud “come on!”
The 29-year-old Frenchman Bonzi won nine of 14 trips to net in the set, persistently pushing the Russian into making challenging passes off low balls on the run. Medvedev wasn’t up to the task and Bonzi celebrated a two-sets to one lead taking a brief bathroom break.
Drilling those deep returns right back at the ninth seed helped Bonzi batter out the break to start the fourth set.
“He’s a great server, but if you can move from the return position to make him doubt,” Bonzi said. “Of course he’s not missing a lot from the baseline. You play very low on the grass from his ball so you have to take the net, you have to move in and change the rhythm of the ball and try to move in and go do the net.
“I’m pretty focused to speak English right now, but one more time this is a great place to play tennis. I [had] maybe 20 people in my box. I knew I can do something big today—maybe it was my day.”
After going down in the fourth set, Medvedev waved his arms toward coach Gilles Cervara in a physical expression of “it’s not my day today.”
The forehand failed Medvedev in the fourth set as he scattered a forehand wide then flattened a forehand into the net ceding the third break of the match—and a 5-2 lead to Bonzi.
Bonzi closed with confidence and will face Aussie Jordan Thompson, who rallied from a two-set deficit, in round two.