On Sunday, a cameraman inexplicably walked onto the court during a US Open first-round match between tennis pros Daniil Medvedev and Benjamin Bonzi. This led to the judge giving Bonzi a new serve, angering Medvedev and leading to a six-minute delay after he rallied the crowd to boo and yell at his opponent and the decision.
On August 24 in New York City’s Louis Armstrong Stadium, Russian player Daniil Medvedev, who won the US Open in 2021, was losing his match against French player Benjamin Bonzi. When Bonzi went to complete his second serve, a cameraman walked onto the court. This forced the match umpire, Greg Allensworth, to stop play and demand that the man leave the court. The umpire then awarded Bonzi a new first serve, which ESPN reports is common in professional tennis when situations like this occur. However, Medvedev wasn’t happy about the call and stormed up to Allensworth while yelling at the umpire.
“Are you a man? Are you a man? Why are you shaking?” is what Medvedev reportedly shouted at Allensworth. “He wants to go home, guys, he doesn’t like it here. He gets paid by the match, not by the hour.”
He then referenced another player who was fined earlier this year after calling Allensworth the “worst ump on tour,” shouting to the crowd, “What did Reilly Opelka say!?” multiple times and motioning with his arms for the audience to join in on his yelling. And they did exactly that.
The US Open crowd jeered, booed, yelled, and chanted, delaying the match for nearly six minutes as Bonzi was unable to serve due to all the screaming and taunting. At multiple points during the yelling, you can see Medvedev cheer on the crowd, though eventually even he started asking them to quiet down. Meanwhile, during all of this, umpire Allensworth begged the crowd to quiet down, but it didn’t work. Eventually, the audience quieted down enough that Bonzi could serve. When the ball crashed into the net, the audience got even louder.
While Medvedev rallied after the delay and Bonzi’s failed serve, he would ultimately lose the match to the French player and get knocked out of the US Open.
“For me, it’s like my best victory ever,” said Bonzi afterwards, according to ESPN. He also directly blamed Medvedev for the extended delay and crowd yelling at him, saying that after the crowd reacted poorly to the umpire’s call, “he put oil on the fire.”
“It was crazy. I may have got some new fans, but also some new non-fans,” said Bonzi, according to the AP. “The energy was crazy. Thanks to all who were booing. Thanks for the energy. I’ve never experienced something like that. We waited maybe five minutes before the match point, and it was crazy. There was so much noise.”
After losing the first round match, Medvedev—who told reporters later that he didn’t agree with the ump that the cameraman interfered long enough to warrant a new first serve—sat on the side of the court for a few minutes before grabbing a tennis racket and smashing it in anger in front of the remaining audience.
©ESPN / US OPEN / Kotaku