Daniil Medvedev, one of the favourites for the French Open, was the biggest casualty on day three at Roland Garros in a seismic shock.
A nosebleed, the crowd and, most crucially, some tennis well above Thiago Seyboth Wild’s ranking of 172nd in the world conspired to give Medvedev his earliest exit at a Grand Slam since the same tournament back in 2020.
Medvedev, the No2 men’s seed in Paris, had marked himself as a genuine title rival to the likes of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz in winning the Italian Open earlier in the month, beating a raft of high-profile players in the process.
But he never really settled against the unfancied Seyboth Wild, making his Grand Slam debut having come through qualifying to win 7-6, 6-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 after four-and-a-quarter hours.
Afterwards, the Brazilian, who has been beset by injuries in recent years, said: “I’ve watched Daniil play and I’ve always dreamed of playing in this country and these type of players and beating them. So it’s a dream come true. I’m really happy with the way I played.”
It was a bizarre match which ebbed and flowed in terms of momentum but also the calibre of play.
At times, Medvedev was sublime, his flat groundstrokes too much for his opponent. But at other times he was out of sorts, suffering a nosebleed and repeatedly shushing the crowd when they booed him when he was in discussion with the umpire over a tight line call.
For his part, Seyboth Wild had his own issues, finding himself bent over the net in one attempt to retrieve a shot from his Russian opponent. Both players picked up seven breaks of serve each, five of which came in the final set alone.
In the end, it was Seyboth Wild who came out on top, a former top-10 ranked player and junior Grand Slam winner picking up arguably the biggest win of his career on the biggest stage.
Medvedev admitted afterwards he was relieved to have finished his clay-court season but that the match would eat away at him for the subsequent week.
“I’m really disappointed,” he said. “I’m going to be one week thinking about this match but, for the moment, I don’t see anything wrong I did. The wind was crazy today so it was not easy. It was tough to play. I don’t see anything I could really do better.”
