Happy, relieved, almost miraculous, Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert may well fall into each other's arms under the ovation of the Central.
After the juniors Luca Van Assche in singles and Arthur Fils and Giovanni Mpetshi-Perricard in doubles, the two accomplices had difficulty but perfectly concluded a Saturday of finals on the theme of blue-white-red.
Already winners in 2018, the Habs have reversed a highly compromised situation against the Kazakh duo Bublik-Golubev (4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 in 2:09) to become the first Blues in the history of the Open era to win the Parisian Grand Slam twice.
Only Noah / Leconte (1984) and Benneteau / Roger-Vasselin (2014) had preceded them in the charts.
The Blues are back to a set everywhere in the decisive game, to the delight of the audience of the Philippe-Chatrier court!
pic.twitter.com/Eh3Y9Nzcs6
- FFT (@FFTennis) June 12, 2021
The Angevin, 39, and the Alsatian, 30, who have already won once in all the other Majors, were largely favorites in the final, especially with the support of an audience who wore them all the fortnight and saw them overturn an incredible semi-final with three match points erased against seeded Colombians Farah and Cabal.
“At Roland Garros, I know the difference between winning and losing a final, explained Mahut before entering the Central in the wake of the women's final.
When we played with Mika (Llodra) against the Brian
(Editor's note: in 2013)
, they were arch-favorites, and that didn't prevent us from being two points away from winning the tournament.
Favorite or not, on a final… Farah and Cabal were favorites.
The reality and the truth, it will be on the ground… ”
Davis Cup atmosphere
Demonstration from the first exchanges with very tense French, tense by the stakes and very quickly led 2-5 double break before conceding the set (4-6 in 31 minutes) despite a slight jump and the "Go the Blues" down stands.
In the second set, the Blues led 3-1 before a completely failed service game from Mahut.
Then suffered the bludgeoning of the ubiquitous Bublik until the Kazakh served for the match at 5-4.
And there, the whimsical player of Russian origin tripped at 30A, giving his opponents an unexpected opportunity to see the light again and easily get back afloat in the decisive game (7-1), with a crazy atmosphere of end of afternoon, sometimes worthy of the late Davis Cup.
In the third set, the French had to rule out two new break points at 1-2 on Mahut's service before taking Bublik's throw-in at 3-3 and heading for a somewhat heroic victory, like of their tournament.
On a final winning serve from Herbert ...
Together, Mahut and Herbert clinched eighteen titles.
And beyond Wimbledon, which looms at the end of next week, the Blues especially have the Tokyo Olympics in their sights.
Even though their common journey has been winding over the past two years, they have never lost sight of their ultimate goal: Olympic gold ...
