PARIS (AP) —Daniil Medvedev was seeded No. 2 at the French Open. Coming off a clay-court title a little more than a week ago, too. Plus, he already owns one Grand Slam trophy and was a finalist three other times.
And his opponent Tuesday in the first round at Roland Garros? Well, Thiago Seyboth Wild, a 23-year-old from Brazil, is ranked just 172nd and was playing only his second match in the main draw of any major tournament. He 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.
Sometimes, the numbers just don't matter. Nor does past experience. The winner of a tennis match tends to be whoever was better that day, no matter how surprising that might be.
Seyboth Wild looked very much like he belonged on Court Philippe Chatrier, hitting big forehands and keeping his nerve down the stretch to oust Medvedev 7-6 (5), 6-7 (8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
"I mean, I've watched Daniil play for like my entire junior career until today. I've always dreamed about playing on this court against these kinds of players. ... It's a dream come true," Seyboth Wild said.