Who is Nishesh Basavareddy? Indian-origin tennis player defeats World No.9 Taylor Fritz in French Open 2026 first round

Young American tennis sensation Nishesh Basavareddy on Sunday stunned fellow American Taylor Fritz to reach the second round of the 2026 French Open in Paris. Nishesh defeated Taylor in a four-set thriller, with the score reading 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (9-11), 6-1 to advance to the second round.

The first set between Nishesh and Taylor was a closely contested one, but the 21-year-old got the better via a tie-break.

Fritz played aggressively in the second set, but Nishesh broke his opponent's serve early and unleashed drop shots at regular intervals.

The third set too went down to the wire, but this time, it was Taylor Fritz who got the better of Nishesh, winning the tie-break 11-9. In the fourth set, however, Fritz ran out of steam and eventually succumbed to defeat.

His parents were from Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, but they moved to the United States in 1999. Nishesh grew up with his elder brother Nishanth.

It was their father who introduced both of them to tennis when they were very young. Nishesh trained under coach Bryan Smith and was also guided by former World No. 1 doubles player Rajeev Ram. Rajeev Ram remains one of Nishesh's mentors.

Basavareddy enjoyed a stellar rise to fame in junior tennis. He went on to win the boys' doubles title at the Junior US Open along with Ozan Baris. He then climbed to world No.3 in the ITF World Junior Rankings in January 2023.

In 2024, Basavareddy won two ATP Challenger titles in Puerto Vallarta and Tiburon and finished as a runner-up in four other Challenger competitions.

In November 2024, Nishesh broke into the top 150 of the men's singles ATP rankings, ranking No.139. He advanced to the 2024 NextGen Finals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

He clinched his maiden victory on the ATP level after beating China's Juncheng Shang. After the tournament, Nishesh officially turned professional and gave up his NCAA eligibility.

At the ASB Classic in Auckland in January 2025, he reached the semi-finals, where he lost to Monfils.

He made his Grand Slam debut that same year at the Australian Open. He faced Novak Djokovic and won the first set before going down in the match with a scoreline of 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 2-6.

In June 2025, he surged into the top 100 of the ATP Rankings and competed in the main draws of Wimbledon and the US Open, suffering first-round exits in both tournaments.

Nishesh qualified for the main draw of the 2026 French Open via a wildcard entry. He won the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card challenge.