Major stars fall in Round 1 of French Open: What now?
Some of the sport's proudest products fell in the opening round of a Grand Slam event.
The best players in the sport are on clay this week at Roland-Garros, or the French Open, for one of tennis’ four majors. But, some have lost first round matches in surprising upsets that have left some of the best and brightest in the sport stunned.
Like Daniil Medvedev, the eleventh best player in the world, who lost to Britain’s Cameron Norrie in a five-set thriller. Medvedev, the Russian star, has had notable issues on Roland-Garros’ iconic clay surface. He said in his post-match press conference, “Honestly man, I might skip the clay-court season next year. F*** clay.”
Medvedev has had on the court issues with traction on the surface. Personally, he just hates dirt. The locker rooms are dirty for his liking, you must clap your shoes out to get rid of the dirt, your car gets dirty. He does not like dealing with it.
It was Norrie’s first win over Medvedev in their five total meetings, dating back to 2019. Medvedev actually won 166 points in the match to Norrie’s 159, but it was a timely 7-5 win in the final set that did the trick. Medvedev goes home, and Norrie goes on to face Federico Gomez on Thursday.
Taylor Fritz, a 27-year-old American, also lost in round one play. He lost a first set 7-5, and responded by tying the match with 6-3 win. Daniel Altmaier went on to win 6-3 and 6-1 to beat Fritz in four sets.
Unlike Medvedev’s loss, Fritz was outscored. But, a statistic that stands out is the ace category, which Fritz won 14-7. Altmaier also double-faulted four times to Fritz’s zero.
Fritz is fourth in the world as of now, and holds a 17-9 singles record this year. He also made the US Open final, a three-set loss to World #1 Jannik Sinner, in 2024. At the time, Fritz was World #12 and it was quite a surprise he had made it that far in that Grand Slam event.
Fritz has been battling right oblique issues for months, but said to reporters he was “100-percent” before the tournament started. He was then asked about that comment after the loss, and plainly said ““My movement on court is really bad. I don’t know what’s going on. A lot of times when I’m sliding, I’m off balance, I’m not timing it correctly. I don’t know. I’m getting wrong-footed a lot, slipping a lot.”
Emma Navarro was dominated in her first, and only, round at Roland-Garros. She took 6-0 and 6-1 losses to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. She lost in points, 56-30. She double-faulted four times. She gave up 11 straight games to Maneiro, a staggering amount from Navarro, who is #9 globally.
It comes in what has been an up-and-down year for Navarro, who hasn’t reached the quarterfinals of any tournament in almost two months, since her quarterfinal round appearance in the Credit One Charleston Open, and holds a 17-12 record in 2025. The 24-year-old is still in search for her first Grand Slam title.
While Medvedev’s loss may be the most surprising of the top-player knockouts, Navarro’s might be the most defeating. It’s how she lost, and what she’s done to this point that put her future in question after Monday’s loss.
Navarro made the semifinal at the 2024 US Open, a loss to World #2 Aryna Sabalenka. It was a breakout moment for Navarro, who was 23-years-old at the time. Since then, she’s 21-15 in the singles play, and people are expecting more.
The next few months will be telling for Navarro, especially a key mark of Wimbledon, which starts on June 30.
The most complex of the losses was Naomi Osaka’s. Osaka is 42nd in the World Tennis Ranking, is unseeded in the tournament, but yet, it feels her loss to #10 Paula Badosa is still an upset. For some, Osaka is one of the few names in the field that they know.
Osaka advanced to the third round in 2016, 2018 and 2019 at Roland-Garros, and has won four Grand Slam events in her career. She’s also a very emotional person and has taken time away from the sport in the past. It’s been a roller coaster ride of a career, and right now, Osaka is feeling a low.
“I feel like as time goes on, I should be doing better,” Osaka said post-match. “But also … I hate dissapoiting people.” Seconds later, Osaka walked off in tears after what was certainly a dissapointing result in what seems to be uphill climbing for her.
After a win over Patricia Maria Tig in round one of the 2021 French Open, Osaka withdrew from the tournament, allowing Ana Bogdan a forfeit win. Osaka didn’t return to action until the 2020 Olympics1 in August, and returned to regular tennis action two weeks after that. Osaka also took a maternity leave in 2023. She will also surely have the spotlight on her for a multitude of reasons going forward to try and restore what was once an unbeliavably promising career.
Luke Brown is a rising sophomore at Rowan University, studying Sports Communcation & Media. He’s an up-and-coming sportswriter, and contributes to newspapers including PennLive, NJ.com and The Sentinel. Please consider subscribing to support Luke’s work.
The 2020 Olympics took place in August 2021 due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Summer 2020.