The first-round match between No. 13 seed Daniil Medvedev and Benjamin Bonzi on Sunday night at the US Open turned chaotic when, of all things, a photographer prematurely stepped onto the court as Bonzi served for the match. All of a sudden, a match that looked like it was destined for a straight-set victory for Bonzi turned into a five-set thriller.
In the end, though, Bonzi prevailed 6-3, 7-5, 6-7(5), 0-6, 6-4 when it seemed like he was on the verge of a collapse.
In the third set, Bonzi was leading 6-3, 7-5, 5-4 and serving for the match when he missed his first serve. At that point, with the match on the verge of concluding, a photographer stepped onto the playing surface, causing a delay.
Bonzi was preparing for his second serve when the photographer entered the court, so chair umpire Greg Allensworth awarded Bonzi a redo of his first serve. That set off Medvedev, the 2021 US Open winner, who sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Medvedev made the break even longer by furiously arguing with the umpire — and on a personal level by literally questioning his manhood and his devotion to the job. In between issuing those barbs he was egging on the crowd and wasting as much time as possible in an apparent attempt to try to interrupt Bonzi’s momentum. Medvedev, who has quite the history of antics at the US Open, was at peak form in this instance, and “The Tennis Letter” did some lip reading and transcribing of his diatribe with Allensworth.
Taylor Fritz chimed in on social meda as well, saying he believed Allensworth’s decision was the right one.
Bonzi, who had not been broken in the match to that point, ended up faulting on his second first serve and eventually lost the point, the game and the set. And after getting dusted 6-0 in the fourth set, he looked to be on the verge of losing the match altogether as he appeared to be dealing with a leg injury. Bonzi took a medical timeout between sets.
Medvedev broke Bonzi in the first game of the fifth set, and it looked like he might just cruise to one of the strangest and most controversial comebacks in recent memory. Instead, Bonzi found a second wind — and started playing to the crowd as well — breaking Medvedev back to get on serve. In the end, despite more antics from Medvedev, Bonzi dug deep and came out on top in the decisive fifth set to cap off one of the more tumultuous matches in recent US Open history.
While Bonzi celebrated his victory, Medvedev took it out on his racket — and a US Open bench.
Oh, and that photographer? According to multiple reports on site, he was escorted off the property by US Open security and promptly had his credentials revoked for the rest of the event.
