In what will go down as one of the most extraordinary events during a Grand Slam match, Daniil Medvedev delayed play by inciting the crowd, when facing match point after disagreeing with the chair umpire’s decision in his opening round match against Benjamin Bonzi at the US Open on Monday morning.
Medvedev, the 2021 champion and former world No 1, was on the verge of defeat once again in the first round of a Major at the hands of Bonzi. The Frenchman, who prevailed against Medvedev in the Wimbledon first round, was serving for a straight-sets win and had a match point in third set leading 6-3, 7-5, 5-4 (advantage). He hit a first serve that sailed wide and was about to get ready for the second serve. Then, a photographer, presumably looking to get to a vantage point to click the winning moment, walked onto the playing area inadvertently. The chair umpire Gregory Allensworth – more on him later – called it out, and because it was an interference to play, he returned the first serve to Bonzi.
“First serve, ladies and gentlemen because of the delay caused by outside interference. First serve has been granted,” Allensworth announced on the microphone. Chaos ensued.
A photographer, presumably looking to get to a vantage point to click the winning moment, walked onto the playing area inadvertently. The chair umpire Gregory Allensworth called it out, and because it was an interference to play, he returned the first serve to Bonzi. Chaos ensued
Medvedev was incensed by the call as he would have, of course, preferred to face the second serve in an attempt to save match point and stay alive. He ran to the chair umpire and started off by asking the fans to be loud. He then exchanged words with Allensworth, partly heard on the broadcast: “Are you a man? Why are you shaking? What’s wrong huh?” He then turned to the camera that was next to the umpire and started scraming: “Guys he wants to leave. He gets paid by the match not by the hour.” He then upped the decibels even more: “What did Reilly Opelka say? What did Reilly Opelka say? What did Reilly Opelka say?” as he continued to gesture to the crowd to get loud.
Are you a man? Why are you shaking? What’s wrong huh?
The crowd responded duly. For more than five minutes, the fans at Loius Armstrong kept cheering, threw in some booing, and every time Bonzi got ready to serve, chanted: “Second serve! Second serve!” Play was stopped for six minutes as Bonzi couldn’t serve when the crowd was in their full voice. Of course, the Frenchman did no mistake but was forced to bear the brunt of it all. Medvedev meanwhile was making heart gestures to the crowd, playing to the gallery as the noise level refused to die down. Eventually, Medvedev did try to ask the crowd to quiet down.
INSANE scenes in the Medvedev & Bonzi match at US Open
A cameraman was trying to leave after Bonzi missed his 1st serve.
The umpire gave Bonzi a 1st serve.
Daniil: “Are you a man? Are you a man? why are you shaking? What’s wrong huh? Guys he wants to leave. He gets paid by… pic.twitter.com/nzlqgoWxre
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) August 25, 2025
Incredibly, after play resumed, Bonzi missed the first serve again and another round of cheers went up. The Frenchman seemed to have lost his rhyhtm and was broken in that game. Eventually, Medvedev clinched the third set in a tiebreak. And in the fourth set, with Bonzi seemingly struggling physically, Medvedev cruised to take it 6-0. But in another twist, Bonzi recovered in time in the fifth set to clinch an epic match that went well beyond midnight local time on Sunday.
What did Benjamin Bonzi say after the match?
Benjamin Bonzi speaks after his five-set win in Round 1 of the US Open 👇 pic.twitter.com/WFATlevHzz
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 25, 2025
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After the match, Medvedev and Bonzi shared an embrace but the Russian then went on to have a meltdown as he sat down on his chair, repeatedly smashing the racket until it broke into half.
WATCH: Medvedev smashes his racquet
Daniil Medvedev looking totally distraught after his loss to Bonzi at the U.S. open.
He’s smashing his racquet and just sitting on the court.
Brutal loss to swallow.
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) August 25, 2025
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“Photographer walking on court when he’s not supposed to could’ve just changed the entire match,” American star Taylor Fritz – who had won his opener in straight sets earlier in the day – posted on his X account. In another reply to an account that asked Fritz if he agreed with the umpire’s call, Fritz wrote: “It sucks for the returner and it’s not fair but at the same time someone literally running on the court, who isn’t supposed to be on the court between serves is insane and not just something you play on through. After Allensworth calls at the guy to not come on the court and there’s an interruption caused, you can’t make him hit a 2nd.”
Daniil Medvedev’s reaction after breaking serve to stay alive in the 3rd set against Bonzi at U.S. Open.
He gives a 🫶 to the crowd.
This match is NUTS.
pic.twitter.com/ePMAKbUwug— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) August 25, 2025
So, what did Opelka say?
The background to the Allensworth-Opelka controversy that Medvedev was speaking of, happened earlier this year at Dallas Open in February. In action against Cameron Norrie and serving for the match, Opelka got into an argument with a fan who he alleged was coughing to distract him. Allensworth called for a code violation and then point penalty for Opelka, which set off the American. He did eventually win the match, but afterwards, went ballistic against Allensworth, calling him the worst ref on tour.
“Greg Allensworth is the worst ref [umpire] in the ATP,” Opelka is quoted as saying after the match by BBC. “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. He is real bad, he almost changed the outcome of that match, just because he doesn’t really know what he is doing.”
Opelka went on to say the official should be suspended for a few tournaments.
“He got emotional, he got very tense and frantic and he couldn’t give me an answer. He didn’t tell that guy to shut up. He [the heckler] was doing it for three points, he didn’t do his job so I had to tell him ‘get out of here’, the guy was being quite rude. It shouldn’t be one-sided traffic, if you want to be disrespectful to me, I can’t just be a punching bag and if the ref isn’t doing his job and he penalises me it is not a good look. It almost changed the outcome of the match. It was a big point and he didn’t do his job then penalised me for it, so he did two things wrong. I hope the ATP penalises him, maybe sideline him for a few tournaments.”
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Who knew this would all become central to the plot at US Open all these months later?
