This looks like a delicious first-round tie. 11th seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev hasn’t reached a final since last year’s Indian Wells Masters.
2025 ATP Tour
Grand Slam Tennis
French Open
Stade Roland Garros, Paris, France (Outdoor Clay)
Selected Round of 128 Matches- 27th May
Daniil Medvedev (11) 0.22 vs Cameron Norrie 3.1
The former US Open champ has been in consistent- if unremarkable- form this year, reaching the quarters in five events (losing in the Marseille and Indian Wells semifinals). He reached the quarters on the brisk Madrid clay but has failed to impress himself on the more sluggish surfaces (he brings a 18-10 record into this year’s championships). Still, the Russian’s deep court position will make him a hard nut to crack in the opening stages. Cameron Norrie endured a poor start to the campaign, failing to go beyond the quarterfinal stage in his first 13 events! The durable lefty has looked a bit devoid of ideas, hamstrung by the sheer weight of tennis he has played over the past four years or so. But he will feel encouraged by his performance in last week’s Geneva Open. Norrie looked back to his pugnacious best in the ATP 250 event, going down to Djokovic in his first semifinal appearance of the season (he managed to nick a set off the legendary Serb). Norrie generates unreal topspin on that forehand wing and will feel confident of a first-round upset win.
The Verdict: Norrie to win in four at 9- Medvedev leads the head-to-head 4-0, winning their most recent encounter in straight sets at this year’s Italian Open (which tends to correlate well with Roland Garros). I think that Norrie is a decent upset shout here. He saw off two top-five seeds in Genena while Medvedev has been eliminated in the first round in five of eight French Open appearances.
