Indian American tennis player Nishesh Basavareddy pulled off a huge upset at the French Open by defeating world No. 9 Taylor Fritz in the first round at Roland Garros.
The 21-year-old, ranked No. 148 in the world, beat Fritz 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 6-1 in a hard-fought match. It was Basavareddy’s first appearance in the main draw of the French Open, making the win even more impressive.
The victory was also Basavareddy’s first win at Roland Garros and his first career victory over a Top 10 player. He became the first American since 1996 to achieve both milestones in Paris. The last player to do so was Chris Woodruff, who defeated Andre Agassi at the tournament nearly 30 years ago.
After the match, Fritz admitted Basavareddy outplayed him, especially with his drop shots. Even in defeat, Fritz said he did not think he played poorly but acknowledged that Basavareddy “cooked him” with smart shot-making throughout the match.
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Playing in the main draw of a clay-court Grand Slam for the first time, Basavareddy battled through a long and intense match before closing it out on his fourth match point against fellow American Fritz. The win gave the young American his first career victory at Roland Garros and his first win over a Top 10 opponent.
With the result, he also became the first American player since 1996 to earn both achievements in Paris, joining Woodruff, who had defeated Agassi that year.
Basavareddy was born in Newport Beach, California, in 2005 to Indian immigrant parents from Nellore, India, who moved to the United States in 1999. His older brother, Nishanth, was also born in the U.S. Before the family became involved in tennis, Basavareddy’s father worked at Toyota.
Basavareddy turned professional in 2024 and has already broken into the world’s Top 100 at a young age, highlighting his rapid rise in the sport.
In his first ATP Tour meeting against Fritz, Basavareddy impressed with his calm play and smart shot selection. He repeatedly pushed the seventh seed onto the defensive with accurate backhands and well-timed drop shots throughout the match.
After the match, Fritz praised Basavareddy for his performance, especially the way he used drop shots to control points throughout the contest.
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“He just played incredibly well,” Fritz said. “The biggest thing was just the drop shots were crazy. Typically, when someone is drop-shotting me too much, I kind of just tell myself, ‘Okay, I need to hit the ball deeper’.”
Fritz said Basavareddy was able to hit effective drop shots even from difficult positions on the court, making it hard for him to respond.
“He was hitting insane drop shots, off balls that were landing on the baseline. He killed me with that, and there’s not really much I can do about it. He really cooked me with the drop shots today. I was very impressed with his feel,” he added.
The loss marked a second straight first-round exit at Roland Garros for Fritz, the tournament’s No. 7 seed. Even in defeat, Fritz showed resilience and fought hard to stay in the match, including saving a match point during the third-set tiebreak to force a fourth set.
But as the match went on, Fritz appeared to struggle physically, likely due to limited match practice coming into the tournament, while Basavareddy continued to raise his level and take control.