A photographer ignited a firestorm of controversy Sunday during the first day of the US Open.
World No. 13 Daniil Medvedev was on the verge of getting ousted in three sets against No. 51 Benjamin Bonzi at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, N.Y. Bonzi had match point and faulted on his first serve.
After the Frenchman’s first serve, a photographer caused an interruption when he stood up from his spot on the playing court. The incident led chair umpire Greg Allensworth to ask the photographer to leave the court. Allensworth then awarded Bonzi another shot at first serve, which infuriated Medvedev.
The Russian favorite confronted the umpire about the decision. He then spoke directly to one of the broadcast cameras and mocked the umpire, telling the crowd that the official was just trying to end the match early.
“He wants to go home, guys. He doesn’t like to be here,” Medvedev said to camera. “He gets paid by the match, not by the hour.”
Full video of the Medvedev-Bonzi-umpire-photographer drama that COMPLETELY changed the match.
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) August 25, 2025
Gotta feel for… Benjamin. Had to stand for 6 minutes before serving on match point while the stadium turned into a circus. A mess. pic.twitter.com/wkEz3B4K6B
Play was interrupted for several minutes before Bonzi finally got to serve again. A motivated Medvedev battled back to defend against the match point and eventually took the set. Medvedev forced a decisive fifth set and looked like he was going to go on an anger-fueled comeback, but ran out of gas toward the end.
Bonzi won 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 0-6, 6-4 despite the valiant effort from Medvedev.
