WATCH: Medvedev’s Historic Meltdown Leads To Bizarre Umpire Clash At US Open

Monday, 25 August 2025 at 13:45

byErik Virostko

Daniil Medvedev is known for his outbursts, but his meltdown at the 2025 US Open was historic even for his own standards.

Although Medvedev is known for his on-court antics, he stated multiple times that it's something he doesn't want to be remembered for, which is why he tried improving his behavior previously.

That shift in mindset seemingly didn't help, as Medvedev still struggles to control his emotions in high-stakes situations on the tennis court. Overall, he doesn't seem to be in a good place after recently leaving the court in Toronto without even taking his bags with him.

At the US Open, Medvedev's first-round opponent was Benjamin Bonzi, a player who beat him earlier this year at Wimbledon and in 2017 at the French Open. The Frenchman played a good match, winning the first two sets 6-3, 7-5, and having a match point at 5-4, AD-40 in the third set.

Bonzi missed his first serve at that point, after which, shockingly, one of the photographers entered the tennis court. The umpire of the match, Greg Allensworth, quickly told the photographer to leave the court, and since he assumed that it distracted the serving player and created an unreasonable pause between his first and second serves, he awarded the first serve again.

The crowd at the Louis Armstrong Stadium didn't like that decision, as they immediately started booing, and naturally, Medvedev didn't like it either. He immediately approached the umpire, accusing him of wanting to end the match early with his decision.

"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 also proceeded to repeatedly shout "What did Reilly Opelka say?" while hyping up the crowd in New York, encouraging them to keep booing the umpire's decision.

The Russian player was referring to Opelka's previous words about Greg Allensworth. Earlier this year, Opelka clashed with Allensworth in Dallas, and after the match, he slammed 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."

After calling out the umpire, Medvedev continued engaging with the crowd, as they continued booing. Eventually, the play was stopped for over six minutes, with the fans even chanting "second serve."

They then celebrated every Bonzi's miss, and the French player ultimately lost three points in a row. Medvedev got back into the match, winning the third set 7-5 in a tie-break, and then winning the fourth set 6-0.

Still, it wasn't enough for Medvedev to win the match. The former ATP World No. 1 player lost 3-6, 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-0, 4-6, and after the match, he passionately destroyed his racket.

What did Daniil Medvedev say after the US Open incident?

After the match, Medvedev denied trying to distract his opponent through his antics. He said it was the crowd that did all the work.

"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 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 also stated that he expects a fine because of his words about Allensworth. Opelka received tens of thousands of U.S. dollars in fines for his comments about the umpires, and the Russian player expects the same.

"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."