Early French Open exit
Tennis star embarrasses himself in round one
May 26, 2026 – 3:44 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Daniil Medvedev went into the game against Adam Walton as the heavy favorite. But even a clear lead in the decisive set didn’t save him from a debacle.
Daniil Medvedev suffered his next setback on clay at the French Open. The 2021 US Open winner failed in the first round in Paris against Australian Adam Walton and left the tournament early.
At 2:6, 6:1, 1:6, 6:1, 4:6 against the world number 97. Medvedev had a weak day. After less than a minute, the world number eight slipped on his unloved surface. The game didn’t go much better after that.
This means that reaching the quarterfinals in 2021 remains Medvedev’s best result at the French Open. Most recently, the Russian had actually stabilized on sand. After the clear 0:6, 0:6 in Monte Carlo against Matteo Berrettini, he even reached the semi-finals at the Masters in Rome.
Medvedev misses a 3-1 lead in the fifth set
However, Medvedev will probably continue to have difficulty with the red ash in the future. He once said of the surface: “For me it’s just dirty. After a sand session you can throw away your socks, the car gets dirty after training. I just don’t like it.”
Medvedev made too many mistakes against Walton. He also lost his nerve in the last service game. He was already ahead with a break in the decisive fifth set, led 3:1 and had two more break points to make it 4:1. But then the break-in followed.
Walton was happy after his success: “It was ups and downs today.” He also said: “I’m really happy with my performance.” For the Australian it was the first time he had reached the second round of a major tournament.
