How a fake Daniil Medvedev comment fooled CoCo Vandeweghe into making a blunder during French Open coverage with Sloane Stephens

Daniil Medvedev has crashed out of the 2025 French Open with a shocking loss in the first round. Following his exit, Sloane Stephens, CoCo Vandeweghe and other commentators were deceived by a false quote attributed to the Russian.

Ahead of his campaign, Medvedev expressed optimism about his chances at the claycourt Major as he felt that he was displaying his "best level" on the surface. However, the Russian struggled to produce that level in his opening match against Cameron Norrie.

After failing to serve out the opening set at 5-4, Daniil Medvedev found himself on the brink of a straight-sets defeat as the Brit took a 2-0 lead in the contest. Although the Russian mounted a comeback to force a decider and even served for the match in the fifth set, Norrie held his nerve to claim a 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 1-6, 7-5 victory after a three-hour and 53-minute battle.

Following his loss, a parody account on X (@TennisCentel) jokingly claimed that Medvedev had cursed the surface and said that he might skip the clay swing next year.

"Honestly, man...I might skip the clay season next year. F*ck clay," Medvedev was falsely quoted as saying.

Given Daniil Medvedev's history of complaining about competing on clay, it isn't entirely surprising that the false quote duped the TNT Sports panel at the French Open. While discussing the 29-year-old's shock loss, CoCo Vandeweghe brought up the quote, which prompted Sloane Stephens and Christopher Eubanks to crack up.

"Even said in that press conference, 'Maybe next year I'll just skip the claycourt season.' So, he's chalking up this claycourt swing as just maybe a trial and error," Vandeweghe said.

Contrary to the false quote, Daniil Medvedev appeared to take his crushing loss in stride, acknowledging that he would need to "do better" when he returned to the French Open in 2026.

"I’m disappointed" - Daniil Medvedev opens up about processing French Open loss

Daniil Medvedev - Source: Getty

During his post-match press conference, Daniil Medvedev opened up about how he would process his early exit from the French Open. The Russian pointed out that he was used to losing early at the claycourt Major and knew that he would be severely disappointed for the next couple of weeks.

Medvedev also said that he needed to focus on performing better at his remaining tournaments this season.

"I probably think it's the same. I lost probably three times here in the first round in five sets. It's always the same story. Maybe one week, two weeks before the next tournament, I'm going to be feeling not good, I'm going to change the surface, so in your game you're not going to feel not good, maybe next tournament is not going to be easy," Medvedev said.

"Then you wait, work hard, and wait for the moment where it goes up again. [I’m] disappointed to lose, but I have 10 more tournaments this year or maybe 12, I need to try to play them well," he added.

Daniil Medvedev will now turn his attention to the grasscourt season, commencing with his campaign at the Libema Open. The Russian will be joined by Alex de Minaur and Sebastian Korda at the ATP 250 event, which kicks off on June 9.