Day 1 at the 2025 US Open saw the debut of four-time champion Novak Djokovic, as well as that of the top two ranked Americans: Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton. All three won in straight sets without much trouble in a day where only two seeded players got eliminated–Tallon Griekspoor and the 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev–whose recent woes have continued here.
US Open Men’s Day 1 Recap
Who looked good
Novak Djokovic had a potentially tricky first round against young American Learner Tien, but he won it in straight sets with Tien only really mounting a serious challenge in the second set (where he even had a set point). Despite not playing since Wimbledon, the Serb looks ready to aim for another deep run here in New York.
The top two ranked Americans Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton both had fairly uneventful first round matches, winning in straights without needing tiebreaks against clearly outmatched opposition. Both will certainly be more seriously tested in the next round, but they look good for a deep run here.
Despite his unfortunate tendency to falter mentally in key moments, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina has established himself as a solid Top 20 level player and showed that in this first round, easily dispatching Alexander Shevchenko while dropping only four games.
Adrian Mannarino’s time at the highest level looked over not too long ago, but he has managed to revive his career in recent months and capped it off today with a fantastic and dominant striaght set upset win over the #29 seed Taloon Griekspoor, proving that he still has some top level tennis left in him at 37 years of age.
Who looked bad
Corentin Moutet was clearly favored to beat Jordan Thompson but he provided a very insipid performance and ended up getting eliminated in fourt sets, in what is surely a very disappointing result for him.
After winning the title in Mallorca, Tallon Griekspoor has been in free fall, winning only one match since. Today might have been the lowest point yet, losing in straights to 37-year-old Adrian Mannarino without really putting up any semblance of a fight.
Daniil Medvedev’s free fall has continued here in New York; after yet another Slam loss to Benjamin Bonzi, Medvedev has finished 2023 with a shocking 1-3 win-loss record in Slams, having now lost in the first round of three Grand Slam tournaments in a row.
Match of the Day
It is precisely Benjamin Bonzi’s win over Daniil Medvedev that gets the pick here. It was an almost four hour affair, with Bonzi having match point in the third set, the crowd spurring Medvedev on to a comeback and Bonzi coming through in the end. At one point it looked like Bonzi was going to win in straights, then after Medvedev won the fourth set with a bagel and broke to start the fifth it looked like the match was in his hands, but Bonzi found a second win and beat Medvedev in the first round of a second consecutive Slam. The night session atmosphere greatly contributed to make this match quite a memorable one.
Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
