MEDVEDEV HATES CLAY
PARIS—IF anyone thought a couple of recent runs to Week 2 at the French Open and a claycourt title a little more than a week ago made Daniil Medvedev a little fonder of the red stuff, forget it. A first-round loss as the No. 2 seed at Roland Garros—against Thiago Seybolt Wild, a qualifier ranked 172nd who never had won a Grand Slam match anywhere until Tuesday—sure reminded Medvedev of his distaste for the slow surface used in Paris. “I had a mouthful of clay since probably the third game of the match, and I don’t like it. I don’t know if people like to eat clay, to have clay in their bags, in their shoes, the socks—white socks, you can throw them [into the] garbage after clay season,” said Medvedev, who won the 2021 US Open and reached three other major finals on hard courts. “Maybe some people like it. I don’t.”
Seybolt Wild needed to win three matches in qualifying rounds last week just to make it into the men’s bracket—something he’d failed to do on eight previous attempts at Slams— but looked very much like he belonged on Court Philippe Chatrier. He hit big forehands and kept his nerve down the stretch to oust Medvedev, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
It’s the first time the secondseeded man lost in the first round of the French Open since 2000, when Pete Sampras—no fan of clay himself—was eliminated by Mark Philippoussis.
“It definitely was the happiest day of my life,” said Seybolt Wild, a 23-year-old from Brazil. “I knew it was going to be a tough match, but I knew how to play. I have watched him play 1,000 times already. I just had to believe in myself.”
So what was his game plan going in?
“Walking on the court, I really just wanted to get the angles, try to get to the net as much as possible, try to use my forehand against his,” Seybolt Wild explained. “It worked pretty well.” Did it ever.
Employing a high-risk, highreward style, Seybolt Wild compiled a 69-45 edge in total winners, including 47-15 on the forehand side.
He hadn’t even played a tour-level main-draw match at all in 2023, instead competing on the lower-level Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Challenger Tour. At his most recent event, in Turin, Italy, Seybolt Wild made it to the quarterfinals and left with a paycheck for $5,950.
“His life is going to be better if he plays like this every match,” Medvedev said. “He’s going to get more money, more sponsors, win big titles. But he has to play like this. Not once on the Philippe Chatrier, but a lot of times in different tournaments all over the world throughout the year.”
At his news conference, Seyboth Wild drew the sort of attention and questions that arrive when a relatively unknown player pulls off a stunning win.
One reporter pulled out some puns related to Seyboth Wild’s last name, including references to whether this was his “wildest victory” and exceeded his “wildest dreams”—to which the response was: “I honestly don’t know how many times I have heard that joke, but it never gets old.”
Later, a query arrived about a far more serious matter: The Rio de Janeiro state prosecutors’ office charged Seyboth Wild in June 2022 with domestic violence against his ex-partner. He has denied any wrongdoing; a ruling is expected sometime this year.
“I don’t think it’s a subject we should talk about...right here,” Seyboth Wild said. “I don’t think it’s a question you should be [asking].”
Medvedev’s exit was the most significant result as the first round closed, although there was one former French Open champion sent home: Barbora Krejcikova, who won singles and doubles titles at Roland Garros in 2021, lost in the first round of singles for the second consecutive year. She was defeated Tuesday by Lesia Tsurenko, 6-2, 6-4.