Daniil Medvedev just had one of the most epic meltdowns in tennis history at the 2025 US Open. And that’s saying something for a guy who’s already famous for losing his cool on court.
The thing is, Medvedev has said before that he doesn’t want to be remembered for his outbursts. He’s actually tried to clean up his act.
But it’s clearly not working. The Russian star still can’t keep it together when the pressure’s on. And honestly, he doesn’t seem to be in a great headspace right now – just last month in Toronto, he stormed off the court and didn’t even grab his bags.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daniil Medvedev | 29 | 6,485 | 27 - 8 |
So here’s what went down at the US Open. Medvedev was facing Benjamin Bonzi in the first round, and it wasn’t going well. The French player had already beaten him twice before – at Wimbledon this year and way back in 2017 at the French Open.
Bonzi was dominating. He took the first two sets 6-3, 7-5 and had match point at 5-4, AD-40 in the third.
Then things got weird.
Bonzi missed his first serve, and out of nowhere, a photographer wandered onto the court. Yeah, you read that right – just casually strolled onto the tennis court during a match.
The umpire, Greg Allensworth, quickly told the photographer to leave. Since he figured this probably distracted Bonzi and created an unfair pause between serves, he awarded the first serve again.
The crowd at Louis Armstrong Stadium immediately started booing. They hated that call.
And Medvedev? He went absolutely ballistic.
He marched over to the umpire and accused him of wanting to end the match early. Then he really let loose:
"He wants to go home, guys. He doesn’t like to be here, he gets paid by the match, and not by the hour. What did Reilly Opelka say? What did Reilly Opelka say?"
Medvedev kept screaming "What did Reilly Opelka say?" over and over, pumping up the crowd and encouraging them to keep booing.
The Reilly Opelka Connection
Here’s the backstory on that weird outburst. Earlier this year, Reilly Opelka had a major clash with Allensworth in Dallas. After that match, Opelka absolutely destroyed the umpire:
"Greg Allensworth is the worst ref [umpire] in the ATP. We were talking about him in the locker room, all the players, it really is a coincidence about two days ago [we were talking about the worst umpire on the tour and he] is the worst one. Allensworth is real bad. He almost changed the outcome of that match just because he doesn’t really know what he is doing."
So Medvedev was basically throwing Opelka’s words back at the umpire in front of thousands of people.
The chaos went on for over six minutes. The crowd was completely into it, even chanting "second serve" at one point.
They celebrated every time Bonzi missed a shot. The poor French player, who’d been cruising toward victory, suddenly lost three points in a row. The momentum had completely shifted.
Medvedev clawed back to win the third set 7-5 in a tie-break. Then he steamrolled through the fourth set 6-0.
But it still wasn’t enough. The former ATP World No. 1 lost the fifth set and the match: 3-6, 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-0, 4-6.
After it was over, he smashed his racket to pieces.
Medvedev’s Take on the Chaos
After the match, Medvedev insisted he wasn’t trying to distract Bonzi. He said the crowd did all the work on their own.
"Honestly not at all. Because, for sure, I was disappointed. I thought, ‘He has a match point on his serve. I didn’t break him once in the match.’ I thought I’m losing the match. And ok it’s second serve, I think if the referee doesn’t say anything, he makes a second serve and probably wins the point and the match is over."
He also admitted he wanted to do way worse than what he actually did:
"He says first serve, I like… what I say and what I do… in my head.. I wanna do worse. I cannot. Because there are rules and I’m on a tennis court. I just expressed my emotions and unhappiness, and then the crowd did what they did without me asking them too much. It was fun to witness. While living it, I was like ‘it could be fun, maybe to finish my career with one match at the US Open.’"
Medvedev knows he’s going to get hit with a massive fine for calling out Allensworth. Opelka received tens of thousands of dollars in fines for his umpire criticism, and Medvedev expects the same treatment.
"I’m getting a big enough fine so if I speak I’m in big trouble so I’m not gonna speak. Not everyone knows what I’m talking about when I said Reilly. Reilly got fined big time for this so I’m gonna get a big fine too. I have no idea they fine guys like me much more than other guys… [Nick] Kyrgios, me, [Alexander] Bublik, who else? Reilly. Even if Reilly’s a nice guy and they fine him just because they don’t like him."
It’s pretty telling that Medvedev groups himself with Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Bublik – players known for their on-court drama. Despite his efforts to change his reputation, he’s still very much part of tennis’s bad boy club.
The question now is whether this latest meltdown will push tennis officials to come down even harder on players who challenge umpires so publicly. And for Medvedev, it’s another reminder that his biggest opponent might not be the player across the net – it might be himself.
