Complete failure. Medvedev suffers a monstrous defeat at Roland Garros and leaves Paris
May 30, 2023 10:10 am UTC Audio Version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
The Russian suffered for almost four and a half hours with the 172 racket in the world. But it’s all in vain.
Perhaps for the first time in his career, Daniil Medvedev approached Roland Garros in such an impressive way. This season, the Russian won 39 of 44 matches and won five titles. But most importantly, in relation to the French Open, he finally conquered the ground. A little over a week ago, Medvedev won the first clay-court tournament of his life: the Roman Masters.
“This victory was incredible. Especially considering the strong players I defeated, the 27-year-old tennis player said before the start of Roland Garros. – Naturally, now I have more expectations of Roland Garros than before. But I understand that it will not be easy. It is necessary to use self-confidence, but not to think that it will be easy. Sometimes it happens that you think: “I played so well, now everything will be easy”. And then there are problems already in the first lap. Because of this, you can get angry and lose.”
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In the opening round of Roland Garros, Medvedev did not have the most sophisticated opponent: Thiago Wilde has been playing mainly in Challengers recently, and he entered the Roland Garros main draw after three qualifying matches. At the same time, it is with the ground that the 23-year-old athlete is in the “you”: this season, the Brazilian has won 35 of 45 matches on this surface.
Early in the match, Wild seemed modest against a more titled opponent: he made a whole series of mistakes and gave up two games almost without a fight. But then Medvedev went into an unexpected tailspin. Unable to cope with the increased wind, the Russian lost his tone, and besides, he did not seek to play actively at all. The more determined and aggressive wild, on the contrary, got used to it, leveled the score, and then threatened the opponent with break points several more times.
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Since the game went badly, Medvedev’s mood also worsened. At first, he simply made a comment to the ball boys, and at minute 4:4 he burst into his own box: “What should I do, what should I do?” Wild, on the contrary, got used to it, leveled the score, and then threatened the opponent with break points several more times. Daniil managed to stabilize, but in the middle of the tie-break the point of no return came: Wild took the game from the third set point. Even vision problems did not interfere with the South American: in the middle of the set, a grain of sand from the ground got into his eye; during the break, drops were brought to the tennis player.
In the second game, the opponents got even, and the general pattern of the game remained the same. Wild found his fortune in attack with mixed success, while Medvedev crackled backhand and continued to make errors on serve. Over 15 games, the Russian allowed seven doubles. As a result, the tie-break was reached again, and again the Brazilian got set points. But this time it was not possible to use them: at the decisive moment, Medvedev offered the Brazilian a long draw, in which the latter obviously did not have enough patience and stamina. 1-1 in sets.
The third set began under the dictation of the Russian tennis player. He easily took two games and apparently put all difficulties behind him. The impression was deceptive. Wild quickly returned to the game and restored the tie. However, he failed to notice. Medvedev’s class paid off, and the Russian relatively calmly cruised to victory in the set. Shortly before the end of the game, Daniil called a doctor to the court: the athlete had problems with his nose, and the doctor had to stop the bleeding or, conversely, cause other discharges.
Wild, however, didn’t even think about giving up and started the fourth game as if he were starting from scratch. The Brazilian took three games with a break, and in the end he made one more and turned the match into the fifth set.
Contrary to expectations, the South American had enough courage and strength for a key segment of the match. Wild kept the attack intentions to the end and the plans actually implemented. In the first six games, the opponents made two breaks each, and the finish was left to the Brazilian. Wild took another shot from Medvedev and then closed out the game with the first match point.
Medvedev leaves the French capital in sensational fashion, and Wild will face the winner of the Kenten Alice-Guido Pella match in the next round.
This is the fourth TBSH in a row, where Daniil Medvedev failed to make it past the fourth round. The last time he worked his way further down the grid at the Australian Open – 2022 (final).
