Heroic winner, Vacherot draws whistles from the crowd for his celebration
Roland Garros 2024 has only been underway for a few hours, and so far it's only the qualifying rounds. But the Parisian crowd is already in full force, and the atmosphere in the bays is worthy of a main draw match.
Valentin Vacherot discovered this on Monday. The 116th-ranked player in the world was up against a young Frenchman: Gabriel Debru (18), ranked 341st and a guest of the tournament. On an overexcited Court 14, Vacherot went through all kinds of emotions. Losing the first set, then having his serve broken for the match, he finally got out of the trap after almost 3 hours of play (4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in 2h53). Qualifying on his 4th match point, he let his relief explode.
Born in France, the 25-year-old had to fight off an entire stadium. Indeed, the crowd had clearly chosen to support Debru, and not always in a very respectful way. Clearly delighted to have got off the mark, the Monegasque made no bones about his celebrations, even throwing a ball from his hand into the stands (see video). He drew whistles from the crowd, and was quick to apologize.
Without necessarily excusing this rather borderline behavior, we can understand the emotions felt by Vacherot, who had to fight against an entire stadium despite playing almost at home.
