Medvedev’s shock Roland Garros exit puts spotlight on grass season
Daniil Medvedev suffered a first-round defeat at the French Open, falling 2-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-1, 4-6 to Adam Walton.
The loss was one of several early upsets in a tournament filled with surprising results. Despite his recent improvement on clay – he pushed Jannik Sinner close in Rome – Medvedev couldn’t carry that form into Roland Garros.
He now heads into the grass season looking to regain momentum ahead of Wimbledon, a tournament where he’s yet to make it past the semi-finals.
Sam Querrey tips Daniil Medvedev for grass-court success this season
Appearing on the ‘Nothing Major’ podcast alongside John Isner and Steve Johnson, Sam Querrey picked Medvedev as his player to watch.
Querrey said: “He’s been streaky; he’s been good at times. He hit like an all-time low at Roland Garros, losing to [Adam] Walton, who was ranked 900 in the world.
“But he’s going to bounce back. Give me Meddy to win a warm-up tournament on grass and then pop like a semi at Wimbledon, that’s kind of what I’m expecting from him.”
The Russian already has a title on grass – Mallorca 2021 – where he actually beat Querrey in the final. Since then, he has made three more finals but lost all of them. They came in Rosmalen (2022) against Tim van Rijthoven and twice in Halle (2022 and 2025) against Hubert Hurkacz and Alexander Bublik respectively.
His Wimbledon record is mixed, although Medvedev has reached the semi-finals in two of the last three years. The former world number one made the last four in 2023 and 2024 before suffering a shock first-round defeat a year ago.
If those recent runs mean anything at all, it would be that another deep run could be possible. He’ll want to bounce back this time around but has work to do before Wimbledon begins.
Sam Querrey and Steve Johnson differ over Learner Tien’s grass court prospects
Johnson, meanwhile, went in a different direction, backing Medvedev’s rival to have a breakthrough on grass.
“I’m going to take Learner Tien,” said Johnson. “Risky,” added Querrey. “I don’t like it.”
Johnson wasn’t convinced by Querrey’s doubts.
“Why not, dude?” said Johnson. “You’ve got to pick someone off the beaten path; I don’t want to pick [Ben] Shelton! He’s five in the world. Even though I think he’s going to have a great grass season. I think Learner is top 15 after the grass.”
Querrey didn’t share the optimism, later choosing Tien as his ‘sell’ pick for the surface.
He has one title on grass – Mallorca 2021 – when he beat none other than Sam Querrey in the final. Medvedev has also reached three more finals since then: Rosmalen 2022 (lost to Tim Van Rijthoven), Halle 2022 (lost to Hubert Hurkacz), and Halle 2025 (lost to Alexander Bublik).
Tien had a decent run last year, making the quarter-finals in Mallorca before falling in the second round at Wimbledon. This year, his grass-court season will start at the Halle Open on June 15th.
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