In the end, one of them was bound to be sad and, once again, it was the little brother.
After their victory on Saturday in doubles, the long-awaited final of the French table tennis championship between the two brothers and phenomena Félix (17 years old) and Alexis Lebrun (20 years old) turned to the advantage of the eldest, winner 4 sets to 2 (11-3, 11-6, 8-11, 9-11, 11-6, 16-14) at the end of a thrilling match.
Félix has long thought he could turn the situation around and hang the 3 sets everywhere.
He even led 10 to 6 in this sixth round, one point away from offering himself this final round but he finally cracked, making a series of unforced errors and letting his brother come back and deprive him of this pleasure.
At the end of the match, while Alexis jumped on the table to shout his joy, young Félix burst into tears, he who never beat his brother in official competition.
Alexis Lebrun is a three-time French champion!
Victory 4 sets to 2 for the eldest sibling, who jumps on the table to celebrate.
What a final between the two players!
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— the L’Équipe channel (@lachainelequipe) March 24, 2024
“It was a crazy match,” the winner reacted to the announcer's microphone, while his brother tried to absorb his sorrow in his towel for many minutes.
Congratulations to Félix, to play a match like that it takes two, and we were two great players today.
» The two exchanged a frank fraternal hug.
If the youngest is well ahead of his elder in the ITTF world rankings (5th, compared to 22nd for Alexis), he is still missing this symbolic victory against his big brother.