WIMBLEDON, England — Ninth-seeded Daniil Medvedev is out of another Grand Slam in the first round after losing to 64th-ranked Benjamin Bonzi 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 at Wimbledon on Monday.
The 6-foot-6 Russian, a semifinalist at the All England Club the past two years, had also exited the French Open in the first round. And that followed a second-round loss at the Australian Open.
“For the moment, I’m not that worried,” said Medvedev, who is ranked No. 9. “If I finish the year somewhere around [No.] 15 in the world, maybe I will be more worried. For the moment, I am not.”
The last time Medvedev lost consecutive Grand Slam first-round matches was in 2017 — at Melbourne Park in his major tournament debut, followed by Roland-Garros.
Medvedev lost in five sets to Cameron Norrie in Paris this year. In 2023, the Russian was seeded No. 2 at Roland-Garros and lost in the first round to Thiago Seyboth Wild, a qualifier who was ranked 172nd at the time.
The 2021 US Open champion took out his frustrations on his racket, smashing it to the ground after Bonzi had got the better of him in the third set.
“I was surprised by his level,” Medvedev said of Bonzi, who had not won a match on grass in three years. “… There was not much I could do better. Every shot that I played today, even good shots, he had an answer. Today, he barely missed. When you’re on fire, everything goes in.
“Whatever I did on the court, it was not bothering him too much. Everything he did was tough for me to play. I fought. I tried.”
Spectators used umbrellas, hats, newspapers and any other makeshift item they could grab to get a respite from the sun and the roasting conditions, but the players got only a 10-minute break at the end of the third set with Wimbledon’s heat rule coming into force as the temperature soared above 90 degrees.
That did little to revive Medvedev, however, as he immediately fell behind 2-0 in the fourth set and could not recover.
“This is special for me today,” Bonzi told the crowd. “This is my first top-10 win at a Slam. I love this place. … I had nothing to lose and I played my A-game.”
After shaking hands with Bonzi, Medvedev’s anger boiled over and he again gave his rackets another brutal battering — this time against his courtside chair and bag.
“I’m for sure very disappointed about the fact that I lost,” Medvedev said.
Chile’s Nicolas Jarry edged past eighth-seeded Holger Rune 4-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 in a match lasting over 3 1/2 hours.
Rune dominated the opening two sets, but Jarry mounted a powerful comeback, firing down 31 aces on his way to victory.
At least five seeded men exited on Day 1, including Rune, Medvedev, No. 16 Francisco Cerundolo, No. 20 Alexei Popyrin and No. 24 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
