“There are no expectations”: Nishesh Basavareddy embraces underdog role after stunning Fritz at the French Open

The 21-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy produced one of the biggest upsets at the start of the Roland-Garros main draw, defeating 7th seed Taylor Fritz, marking the first elimination of a top-10 player in the tournament—considering both the men’s and women’s draws.

The American achieved the biggest victory of his career and, for the first time, beat a top-10 opponent, making the most of the wildcard he received to compete in the second Grand Slam of the year. It is his first appearance in the Roland-Garros main draw, and also his second main-draw victory in a major, after reaching the second round at the Australian Open earlier this season.

Basavareddy showed great maturity on court against a player of Fritz’s hierarchy, who, although not coming in with much competitive rhythm after being out for a couple of months, still entered the match as the favourite for the duel.

“I haven’t had much experience on clay, so I don’t know if I was really expecting this, but I still thought I would have a good chance today if I played well, and that’s what I did. I’m really happy to get my first win here,” he said in the press conference. “Before the match I was still pretty confident, just because he hasn’t had so many matches. I felt like I could raise my level in a match like this.”

Basavareddy prevailed in two tight tie-break sets in the first sets to take a solid advantage. In the third set, Fritz saved a couple of match points before taking the tie-break that kept him alive, but he eventually collapsed in the fourth set, where a double break gave Basavareddy a wide lead before sealing the victory with a convincing finish: 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 6-7(9), 6-1.

“I would say midway through the second set, when it was getting closer to the second-set tiebreak, I started thinking a little bit about the finish line,” Basavareddy said. “If I could get a two-set lead, I’d have the advantage. But then you have to go back to game by game and not get ahead of yourself.”

The American player acknowledged that facing a top-10 player—who on paper was heavily favoured—actually worked in his favour, considering there were no major expectations or pressure regarding what Basavareddy could do in just his first appearance at Roland-Garros and with limited experience on clay courts.

“Of course he’s a top-ten player with great results, but it makes it easier in a sense that I’m the underdog,” Basavareddy explained in the press conference. “There are no expectations. It’s not really a typical clay-court matchup, so maybe fewer long rallies. The conditions were hot, so it would be a lot of serving.”

After the win against Fritz, many of his rivals will certainly now consider him a dangerous player, and Basavareddy is beginning to present himself to the tennis world as someone to watch. However, the former top-100 player does not set specific goals beyond going as far as possible in the most important tournaments.

“That’s a big question. Right now I just want to see how far I can go and be the best player I can be,” Basavareddy said. “If that means deep runs in Grand Slams or being top 20 or top 10, I don’t know. I just want to do everything I can to improve.”