Rehberg stuns Roland Garros boys' champion Van Assche in SW19 opener
Germany’s Max Hans Rehberg announced himself on the big stage after upsetting the odds and dispatching No. 2 seed Luca van Assche from the Junior Championships, Wimbledon in the first round.
In the absence of Czech Linda Noskova, Van Assche entered the tournament as the only competitor with a Junior Grand Slam title to their name this season after topping the podium at last month’s Roland Garros Junior Championships.
Seeded second here but confirmed as the top-ranked boy on the planet in the updated rankings published this morning, Van Assche succumbed 7-6(6) 2-6 6-3 as Rehberg recovered to some considerable effect from 3-0 down in the decisive third set.
Rehberg’s heroics left Van Assche’s hopes of claiming a Roland Garros-Wimbledon double in tatters. The last boy to achieve the feat was Tseng Chun-Hsin of Chinese Taipei in 2018, while before him it was Van Assche’s fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils in 2004.
Munich-born Rehberg now faces a second-round date with either Czech Republic’s Adam Jurajda or qualifier Patrick Brady of Great Britain. Irrespective of the opponent, he will go forth in the tournament with a major scalp – and comeback – to his name.
“I have lost so many third sets this year and this was the day that I said to myself, even at 0-3, ‘come on Max, you can do it, it’s Wimbledon, come on’,” Rehberg told itftennis.com.
“I am a player who never says it’s impossible to win. I saw the draw and I thought, ‘ok, it will be tough’. But what should I do? I just played my game and tried my best.
“I cannot describe my feelings because I have just won. I just called my parents to tell them and they were so happy. Maybe they saw it on live scores, but I wanted to tell them. It is still very much in my head, I cannot describe my feelings.”
Rehberg, who like Van Assche was making his SW19 debut, attended his post-match press conference not only with a justified sense of achievement but still bedecked in his Wimbledon towel.
“I will leave it on my shoulders the whole day because it is just such a nice feeling to have it there,” he said. “I hope there will be three of four more towels this week.”
Wimbledon, meanwhile, is proving something of a haven for the 17-year-old, who admits to struggling of late with balancing the demands of playing with his schoolwork. He has been sitting exams in recent weeks and still has a maths paper to go.
“The last few weeks, I didn’t play so well because of school and it is a bit of release for me,” he added. “My head is so full with everything because I have my last exams and it’s been hard. This is a release.”
The difficulties which Van Assche experienced were not replicated among the heavyweights of the girls’ draw as world No. 1 and top seed Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, a Junior Grand Slam winner at the Australian Open in 2020, cruised into the second round at the expense of Italy’s Beatrice Ricci. Jimenez Kasintseva will now face either Czech qualifier Nikola Bartunkova or qualifier Eva Shaw of Great Britain.
No.2 seed Alexandra Eala of the Philippines also progressed after making light work of Argentina’s Solana Sierra, winning 6-3 6-4. Fellow seeds Polina Kudermetova, Oceane Babel, Kristina Dmitruk and Alexandra Yepifanova also advanced.
Elsewhere in the boys’ draw, Leo Borg was one of the standout names to safely navigate the opening round. The 18-year-old may have some way to go to match his father’s domination here in the late 1970s and early 1980s – Bjorn won five consecutive Wimbledon titles between 1976 and 1980 – although his 2021 Juniors campaign is up and running. He defeated Serbia’s Marko Topo 6-3 6-7(2) 6-0.
Meanwhile, somewhat fittingly for Manic Monday, or at least the second line of the song popularised by The Bangles – ‘I was just in the middle of a dream’ – Mark Lajal of Estonia, seeded No. 16 here, claimed his first Junior Grand Slam match-win.
Lajal, who made his Junior Grand Slam debut at Roland Garros last month, overcame France’s Mehdi Sadaoui 6-3 4-6 6-2 and will now face Matthew William Donald of Czech Republic in the second round.
“It is a dream come true because my dream when I started playing Juniors was to play Junior Grand Slams and here in particular,” Lajal told itftennis.com. “Now that I got the win, I have achieved a small part of what I want to achieve.
“It’s my first time here, I’ve only ever watched Wimbledon on television before, but everything is exactly how I imagined it would be. This is the perfect Grand Slam to get my first Junior Grand Slam victory.
“I’m really happy. I am looking forward to the next round and I cannot wait for what is to come.”
On a day of firsts for Lajal, who is ranked No. 15 in the boys’ standings, victory over Sadaoui also prompted his maiden interview request in the formal setting of a Grand Slam.
“I was not expecting it at all,” said Lajal. “The request came out of nowhere and I was like, ‘oh nice, I can do an interview’. It’s exciting, super nice – I am enjoying it a lot.”
A first still awaiting Lajal, who won his second J1 title at Ricany, Czech Republic in May, at SW19 is a photo request after regularly being mistaken for Canada’s Denis Shapovalov, who reached the quarter-finals of the men's draw today.
“It’s not happened here yet but, in my opinion, I don’t think I look like him at all,” added Lajal. “Sometimes people come over to me and ask if they can have a picture. I always say, ‘sure, but I think you might be mistaking me for Denis’.
“It is more the smaller kids who think I’m Denis. ‘Are you Denis Shapovalov?’, and I have to say, ‘sorry, I’m not’. There could be a lot worse people to be likened to."