Jelena Dokic slams Daniil Medvedev after explosive US Open meltdown: “insulting and deserving punishment”

Jelena Dokic, a legendary figure in Australian tennis, called Daniil Medvedev's remarks "insulting" when the former world number one broke out in a furious outburst after his four-set loss against Benjamin Bonzi.

With Bonzi up two sets at Louis Armstrong Stadium and with match point in the third, Medvedev was on the verge of losing in straight sets during the Open's opening round. To the ire of an enraged Medvedev, however, a photographer inadvertently stepped onto the court, giving him another chance to serve in a remarkable turn of events.

According to Ben Rothenberg, the photographer's credentials for the 2025 US Open were cancelled, and he was later removed out of the court by security. "Are you a grown man or not?" the Russian asked umpire Greg Allensworth during their argument.


"Want to return home? The former World No. 1 went on, "Don't you want to go home?" Reilly Opelka was correct, Medvedev said, shouting at the camera, "He doesn't want to be here, he gets paid by the match not by the hour."

In February, after being punished for cursing at a Dallas Open spectator, the American claimed that he "shouldn't have a job or should be sidelined for about four weeks, maybe learn a thing or two."

Dokic concurred with the umpire's ruling and stated that Medvedev ought to have received a code violation for his "insulting" remarks directed at Allensworth.

"The umpire had to decide whether to give Bonzi a first serve, and I think that was the right call," she stated.

However, Medvedev was obviously quite upset about that, and this is what transpired after that. He and the umpire got into a heated argument.

The code ought to have been broken. Just for me, this is offensive. He ought to have received a code violation of some sort, but he should also have been punished for stirring up the mob and breaking stuff. Dokic claimed that the crowd caused a "massive momentum shift" in Medvedev's favour, saying she had "never seen" such a long interval.

"If Medvedev wins this set, it definitely changed it, and it could really push us to five sets now," she continued.

"I feel sorry for Bonzi. It was quite challenging to actually begin serving, but he wasn't sure if he should keep not playing or continue to serve.

Sometimes, rather than through that, you can serve through a small amount of crowd noise. "Look, I can't actually serve and play through that," he stated to the umpire. As the audience booed, play was stopped for more than seven minutes, and Bonzi wouldn't serve until everyone was silent.

He eventually made an unforced error and a first serve fault when play resumed, and Medvedev then hit a winner to win the match. The Frenchman surprisingly recovered to win the fifth set 6-4 after the Russian won the third set in a tiebreak and then shut out Bonzi 6-0 to win the fourth.

He remarked, "The energy was wild."

"Thank you to everyone who jeered. I appreciate your enthusiasm in the fifth. It was insane. In the third, match point. Absurd situation. Exhausted after the fourth set, and even after a wild victory in the final set.”

"I've never had that kind of experience. It was really noisy and hard to play. Constantly throughout the point and in between the points. Although the atmosphere was really chaotic, I made an effort to remain composed and continue the match, but it was difficult, and I gave it my best at the end."