Mercurial Russian Daniil Medvedev is stunned by Brazilian world No 172 Thiago Seyboth Wild in the first round of the French Open, losing 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (6-8) 2-6 6-3 6-4 after four hours and 15 minutes
Tuesday 30 May 2023 19:33, UK
Second seed Daniil Medvedev saw his French Open hopes end with a shock first-round defeat to Brazilian world No 172 Thiago Seyboth Wild on Tuesday.
The qualifier ended Medvedev's hopes of winning a second Grand Slam final with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (6-8) 2-6 6-3 6-4 victory after four hours and 15 minutes.
On the court where Brazilian great Gustavo Kuerten lifted the Coupe des Mousquetaires three times, 23-year-old Seyboth Wild delighted the Philippe Chatrier crowd with his attacking tennis.
"I watched Daniil play since I was junior and beating him on such a court is a dream come true,' Seyboth Wild said.
"I tried to use my forehand against his and it worked pretty well. I started cramping at the start of the second set but I used my mental strength to play my best tennis."
After winning the opening set, he looked to have blown his chance when he failed to convert a 6-4 lead in the second-set tie-break and missed the easiest of overheads to hand Medvedev the set.
The Russian comfortably won the third as well but former US Open Junior champion Seyboth Wild fought back brilliantly in the fourth and broke the Medvedev serve three times in the decider to win a thriller.
During the contest, Medvedev became increasingly riled by the crowd, gesturing for them to be quiet, and ranted incessantly at his box before departing the arena without acknowledging the fans.
Speaking afterwards, he said: "The only thing was when I asked the umpire to check the mark. It was pretty close, in my opinion. I was just discussing with her where does she see the ball and getting booed for whatever reason. I just told them to shut up, and that's it."
A committed clayphobe in his younger days, Medvedev has improved considerably on the surface, reaching the quarter-finals here in 2021 and winning his first Masters title on the red stuff in Rome earlier this month.
That achievement positioned him firmly among the title contenders but instead, he suffered his first opening-round loss at a Grand Slam for four years.
"I'm not going to look at it back on TV but my feeling was that he played well. I don't think I played that bad, but he played well," said Medvedev.
"His life is going to be better if he plays like this every match. He's going to get more money, more sponsors, win big titles. But he has to play like this. Not once on the Philippe Chatrier, but a lot of times in different tournaments all over the world throughout the year."
There was a tense exchange in Seyboth Wild's press conference when he was asked about an ongoing legal process following a complaint of domestic abuse by an ex-girlfriend in 2021.
"I don't think it's a subject we should talk about it right here," said the Brazilian. "I don't think it's a question you should be making to anybody."
Fourth seed Casper Ruud, the beaten finalist last year, has endured a difficult season so far but eased to a 6-4 6-3 6-2 win over Elias Ymer while Alexander Zverev won his first match at Roland Garros since the serious ankle injury he suffered in last year's semi-final, beating Lloyd Harris 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-0) 6-1.
Sixth seed Holger Rune will fancy his chances of reaching the final and he recovered from losing the second set to beat American Chris Eubanks 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 while ninth seed Taylor Fritz raced past Michael Mmoh 6-2 6-1 6-1.
