Daniil Medvedev backed 172nd-ranked Thiago Seyboth Wild to break the top 30 by the end of the year after suffering a shock French Open first round exit at the hands of the Brazilian on Tuesday.
As far as the mercurial Russian is concerned, he was just happy to turn his back on another rollercoaster clay court season.
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“Every time it finishes I’m happy,” said the world number two after losing to Seyboth Wild, who came through the qualifiers and had never previously won a Grand Slam match, 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (6/8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
It was Medvedev’s fifth loss in the opening round at Roland Garros in seven appearances.
“I had a mouthful of clay since probably 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 to garbage after clay season.
“Maybe some people like it. I don’t. I am happy to have it finished,” added Medvedev, who arrived in Paris buoyed by winning his first ever clay court title at the prestigious Italian Open last week for his fifth trophy of 2023.
Seyboth Wild, 23, unleashed 69 winners past the Russian. Had he not squandered two set points in the second set, he could have wrapped up the match sooner than the four hours and 15 minutes it took for the tie to play out.
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“I was cramping in the second set and couldn’t really serve the way I wanted,” said the Brazilian, without a win on the main tour since February 2022 until Tuesday.
Seyboth Wild had only previously played one match at the Slams at the US Open in 2020. Apart from that brief ray of light, he had tried and failed eight times to qualify for the majors.
Medvedev believes the Brazilian can use Tuesday’s victory for a launch pad into the big time.
“If he continues to play that way, in my opinion, end of the year, he’s top 30,” said Medvedev.
“I honestly hope he’s going play like this later on, because if not, I’m going be disappointed. I’m going to be like, why today? Why not in two days?”
“His life is going to be better if he plays like this every match. 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.”
Defending champion Iga Swiatek overcame an early wobble to reach the second round with a straight sets win over Cristina Bucsa of Spain.
The world number one, bidding to become the first woman to successfully defend the title at Roland Garros since Justine Henin in 2007, came through 6-4, 6-0.
“I know this court pretty well and I am focusing on the future,” said Swiatek, who could lose the top ranking to Aryna Sabalenka or Elena Rybakina at Roland Garros.
Russian qualifier Mirra Andreeva, 16, marked her Grand Slam debut with a quickfire 6-2, 6-1 victory over Alison Riske-Amritraj of the United States.
Andreeva, the youngest player in the tournament, has reached 143 in the world from 312 in April and hit the headlines at the Madrid Open earlier this month where she reached the last 16.
Wimbledon and US Open runner-up Ons Jabeur eased past Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti, who won her maiden WTA title in Rabat on Saturday, 6-4, 6-1.
Coco Gauff, the 2022 runner-up, battled to a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 success over Rebecca Masarova of Spain but Barbora Krejcikova, the 2021 champion, was knocked out in the first round for a second successive year, losing 6-2, 6-4 to Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine.
Wimbledon champion and fourth-ranked Elena Rybakina brushed off a slow start to dispatch Czech teenager Brenda Fruhvirtova 6-4, 6-2.
Fourth seed Casper Ruud, the runner-up to Rafael Nadal last year, eased past Swedish qualifier Elias Ymer 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
Alexander Zverev, who suffered a season-ending ankle ligament injury in his 2022 semi-final loss to Nadal, secured a fourth win in four matches against Lloyd Harris of South Africa. German 22nd seed Zverev came through 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/0), 6-1.
Danish youngster Holger Rune, seeded six, came through a tough test against American Christopher Eubanks, winning 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2.
“It was super difficult. There are always nerves coming into the first round and Chris was playing very freely,” said Rune who made the last-eight in 2022.
Italian qualifier Andrea Vavassori saved five match points to knock out Serb 31st seed Miomir Kecmanovic in a five-hour 10-minute epic.
Vavassori hit a colossal 106 winners in his 5-7, 2-6, 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (11/9) win.
