It took Daniil Medvedev and Jelena Ostapenko meltdowns to spin US Open into chaos

First came Daniil Medvedev. He is the once-great player who has been becoming less and less relevant every year. He won the US Open once, but he seems nowhere close to being in that kind of form. He is more likely to be bounced out early in a tournament.

That was the case in New York this year. Medvedev played Benjamin Bonzi in the first round and lost in five strange sets. In the third set, Bonzi was serving with a match point, a cameraman wandered onto the court, the referee stopped play because of it, and awarded Bonzi another first serve.

Medvedev became quite irate at the decision, as Bonzi logically would have been given a second serve. The Russian's anger got the best of him, but he had a good point, too. Bonzi benefited from the photographer's interference, and it was unfair to Medvedev.

Daniil Medvedev and Jelena Ostapenko bring chaos to the US Open

The Russian argued for a long time, nearly seven minutes. He later smashed his racket. He was also later fined $42,500 for the incident. Should he have given up his argument sooner? Sure, but he was right. While he went on to win the point, Medvedev lost the match in five sets.

Tennis needs to have more logical rules about what caused the problem. Bonzi had to stop his second serve because of a silly photographer, but Medvedev should not have been punished for something neither player had any control over.

Things were even worse following a match with tennis brat Jelena Ostapenko and Taylor Townsend. During the match, Townsend had hit a shot that clipped the net and landed on the Latvian's side. Normally, a player holds up their hand as if to say "sorry" for winning an accidental point. A player doesn't have to do that, though.

Townsend's lack of apology boiled over to the post-match handshake between the players (Townsend won the match in straight sets and the second set 6-1, so the shot that clipped the net had little bearing on the outcome), and Ostapenko, long-known to be a sore loser, lashed out at the American.

In the on-court post-match interview, Townsend told ESPN, "She told me I have no class, no education, and to see what happens when we get outside the U.S."

On Instagram later, Ostapenko doubled down on her argument, saying that there are "rules" in tennis where a player apologizes for the kind of shot Townsend won the point on. The truth is, an apology in that case isn't a rule but a courtesy.

Ostapenko likely didn't deserve the apology. She is a rude player who is not well-liked. She acts as if she has contended for WTA No. 1 for years. She hasn't. Her arrogance is misplaced and wrong.