Who is Nishesh Basavareddy? Indian-origin youngster who stunned Taylor Fritz at French Open

21-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy stunned fellow American World No.9 and seventh-seed Taylor Fritz at the 2026 French Open on Sunday. Making his Roland Garros debut, ranked 148 in the world, Nishesh recorded his first top-10 career win with a four-set thriller of 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 6-7(9), 6-1 on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

He became the first American to beat a top-10 player at the clay-court Grand Slam since Jan-Michael Gambill in the year 2000.Fritz, who came to Paris with very little match practice after spending two months out due to a knee injury, struggled to get the grip over the match and lost to his young countrymen after battling for nearly three hours. It marks a milestone achievement for the young Indian-origin talent, who earned his wildcard spot in Paris by winning the USTA’s Roland Garros wild card challenge.

Basavareddy will continue on in Paris with the potential of playing another young American in Alex Michelsen, who takes on Aleksandr Shevchenko in the first round.Who is Nishesh Basavareddy?Nishesh Basavareddy is an Indian-origin American, born on May 2, 2005. His parents Sai Prasanna and Muralikrishna Basavareddy moved from Andhra Pradesh to the United States in 1999.Born in California, Nishesh enjoyed a stellar junior career, reaching World No.

3 in ITF junior rankings and capturing the 2022 Junior US Open boys doubles crown. Under the mentorship of Rajeev Ram, a former doubles world No. 1, Basavareddy won two ATP Challenger titles in Puerto Vallarta and Tiburon in the year 2024. In the same year, he played in the ATP NextGen finals in Saudi Arabia.He made his Grand Slam debut in 2025 at the Australian Open. He faced the legendary Novak Djokovic in the first round and lost in the match with a score of 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 2-6 after a promising start in the first set.In June 2025, he moved into the top 100 of the ATP Rankings and played in the main draws of Wimbledon and the US Open, but lost in the first round of both the Grand Slams.During the on-court interview after the match, terming the win as the biggest win of his career, Nishesh said, "What a match. Taylor's obviously a great player, so super happy to get through that, especially after losing the third set. First French Open main draw, and all the support, it's incredible."