France celebrates as Debru wins Roland Garros boys’ singles title
French players might not quite have dominated the Roland Garros boys’ singles tournament in 2022 as they did in 2021, when four French boys contested the semi-finals. But at the end of a week which has offered fascinating glimpse into the future of men’s tennis, the end result is the same – a young Frenchman atop the podium, having conquered all challengers in Paris over the last seven days.
Sixteen-year-old Gabriel Debru is the French hero this year, matching the feat of 2021 boys’ singles champion Luca van Assche and 12 other French players before him. Debru defeated Belgium’s Gilles Arnaud Bailly 7-6(5) 6-3 in two hours and one minute to complete a superb week at Roland Garros.
“It's crazy,” was Debru’s summary of his feelings after completing the victory. “Because I was up against a good player, he played very good. It's a lot of emotion to win my first Grand Slam.”
Debru identified the first-set tiebreak as the most crucial moment in the match, providing him with the momentum to go on and close out the match in straight sets.
“I served very well at 6-5 in the tiebreak,” he analysed. “In all the tiebreak I was like solid. He was playing good, but today my backhand… was better. I served better than yesterday.”
The Frenchman will be delighted that he saved one of the best performances of his junior career for the final, which was played in front of a near-full Court Simonne Mathieu. The home fans celebrated every point he won, with a small group of enthusiastic young men – who turned out to be Debru’s friends and cousins – responsible for generating much of the atmosphere.
Indeed, Debru’s coterie of friends and relatives led a chorus of ‘La Marseillaise’ shortly after match point, much to the delight of a Parisian crowd keen to embrace yet another French junior champion.
“It was so much pressure before the match,” he said. “It's crazy to play with so many people… with the public, with my friends, my family, and with my team. Yeah, I'm happy to win the tournament.”
Despite the defeat to Debru on Saturday, Bailly was happy to take the positives from an excellent week in the French capital.
“It was certainly not my expectation to play the final here,” he said. “I just came here thinking: okay, it's my first Roland Garros, see a little bit how it works and try just to enjoy it as much as I can.”
Although clearly not able to enjoy the same level of support as Debru, there were a handful of Belgian fans offering heartfelt cries of “Allez Giles!” throughout the match. And Bailly clearly enjoyed his first experience of playing in such a large stadium.
“It was a great experience playing on this court,” he said before adding, with a smile: “They were cheering for him, but I was imagining the crowd were for me.”
Evidently their experience of playing in front of thousands of fans has whetted both Debru’s and Bailly’s appetite for future success.
“It's a big title,” Debru said afterwards. “But I will continue and work so that I can have even bigger titles.”
In the boys’ doubles final, No. 1 seeds Edas Butvilas, of Lithuania, and partner Mili Poljicak, of Croatia, completed an excellent week with a 6-4 6-0 victory over the Peruvian pair of Gonzalo Bueno and Igancio Buse. It was Poljicak’s first taste of Grand Slam glory, while Butvilas is able to add this title to his Wimbledon boys’ doubles crown from 2021.