Young people dare anything, that's even how we recognize them.
Hugo Gaston has decided not to wait for the value of the years to shake the clay of Roland Garros which, since last Sunday, has buried one by one all the hopes of the French champions who mostly disappeared in the first or second round.
At 20 years since September 26 and for his third match only Porte d'Auteuil, the Toulouse left-hander offered himself a monument on Friday, the exploits of which he once watched on television.
On the Suzanne-Lenglen court, the sun, who had until then decided to be desired, greeted the victory over the Swiss Stan Wawrinka in five sets (2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0) by pointing the tip of his nose.
It was fleeting like the service of the young Frenchman who directly engages the game without going through the fifty thousand rebounds of the little yellow ball.
Hugo Gaston has moved into a new dimension becoming the first player so poorly classified (239th) to qualify for the round of 16 since Arnaud Di Pasquale in 2002. “It's something crazy for me.
I will achieve tomorrow
(Editor's note: this Saturday)
", smiles the hero of the day who will face a new colossus of the circuit on Sunday, the Austrian Dominic Thiem, double finalist at Roland Garros (2018 and 2019).
😍🇫🇷 IT'S DONE!
Hugo Gaston inflicts a bubble (6/0) on Wawrinka in the 5th set and brings down the Swiss!
What a MONSTERIOUS feat of the Frenchman who climbed to eighth for his first Grand Slam!
🔥 # RG20
🖥️ Follow Roland Garros live: https://t.co/Z0SzpLkTvf pic.twitter.com/zRx0FUZ6YE
- France tv sport (@francetvsport) October 2, 2020
There is no real surprise at this exceptional and atypical course as the native of Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), invited to this tournament by the French Tennis Federation (FFT) and resulting from the qualifications, worked to live such moments.
Even when headwinds forced him in 2017 to leave Insep, the champion factory located in the Bois de Vincennes in Paris (12th century), to return to his native southwest.
“He trains in Toulouse but comes regularly to the National Training Center (CNE) to change partners and discuss with other coaches (Loïc Courteau and Thierry Champion).
It is his story, his journey.
His project is structured.
The goal is for these kids to make their dreams come true.
It's positive to see this generation show that, ”says Pierre Cherret, the national technical director.
"Somewhere, he gets into the heads of his opponents"
When returning to the feat, his trainer in Blagnac, in the suburbs of Toulouse, since the slayer of Wawrinka was six years old, spun the metaphor.
“We are opening up avenues.
Hugo is like a mountaineer who opens the way, ”says Marc Barbier.
Gaston is even the man of the first who clears more territories every day.
“It was his first game in five sets, a first meeting at Lenglen and his first round of 16,” adds Barbier.
The coach had no doubts about his foal's ability to physically stand the comparison with Wawrinka, renowned for his extraordinary endurance: “We had no doubts on this point because we know that we had worked well on home (
Editor's note: Gaston inflicts six-hour daily training sessions on himself
).
We didn't know if emotionally it could hold up.
We got the answer.
He proved to us that he could do it.
So much so that he completed an incredible fifth set.
"
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By inflicting in the final round a 6-0 to his Swiss opponent winner of three Grand Slam tournaments.
Gaston thus punctuates his feat in the best possible way, a sign that Swiss watchmaking was definitely out of order.
“Somehow, he gets into the heads of his opponents, concludes Barbier, and pushes them to make mistakes.
"