Adam Walton, who is the wild card who eliminated Medvedev and dreams of challenging Jannik Sinner

Like a bolt out of the blue, early Wednesday afternoon at Roland Garros delivered the first surprise major elimination, that of world number 8 Daniil Medvedev. Inflicting on him what is, in truth, even his sixth career elimination in the first round of the Paris Slam was a surprising wild card, Australian Adam Walton. The 27-year-old from Queensland is now dreaming big: sure, the challenge to Jannik Sinner (the two could find themselves in the semifinals) remains a dream, but if appetite comes with eating…

Born in Brisbane on April 17, 1999, Walton has been a professional since 2022 and has as his best ranking the number 74 position, reached in the final of last season. In the early phase of his pro career he was noted for his five tournaments won at the ITF level (Waco, Cancun and Cancun-bis in 2022, Tbilisi and Tulsa in 2023) and four won on the ATP Challenger circuit (Cary in 2023, Burnie and Tapiei in 2024, Brisbane in 2025).

In 2023 he made his Slam tournament debut, specifically at the Australian Open, but stopped in the second round of qualifying. The following year he entered the main draw as a wild card, however, stopping immediately against Matteo Arnaldi. Walton is one who knows how to take advantage of opportunities: in 2025 he entered the main draw of the Miami Masters 1000 as a lucky loser, and after beating Luciano Darderi and Coleman Wong he landed in the round of 16, where he stopped ahead of Taylor Fritz, later a semifinalist.

Also in 2025, he had made it to the second round at both Roland Garros (beating Germany’s Marterer before surrendering to Ruvlev) and the U.S. Open (overcoming Hugh Humbert before being defeated by Wong). With his success over Medvedev, he thus equaled his best result in a Grand Slam tournament-a no small achievement for a tennis player who can now consider himself the loose cannon in the Paris tournament.