"A touch of regret", Gaston came close to the heist of the year against Thiem

Hugo Gaston during his 2nd round at Roland Garros, September 30, 2020. -

At Roland-Garros,

And two sets everywhere, we had a stomach ache.

Almost cramps.

But cramps of excitement.

When the vertigo of the feat that is emerging, still argues for fear that the magic of the moment will vanish will lead to cruel disillusion.

Was Gaston going to achieve the biggest robbery of a French tennis player in the history of the sport?

No matter how much we searched in the attic of our brain, dusted off the Tsonga-Federer or the Gasquet-Roddicks of the 2000s, nothing could compare to what was happening before our eyes.

The 239th in the world setting off the other best player in the world on clay.

A brute of nature, who had boned opponents much more racy than Hugo Gaston the turns before.

🔥🇫🇷 YES!

Hugo Gaston wins this third set against Dominic Thiem!

It is well deserved in view of what the Frenchman offers, who is barely MONSTERY!

😍 # RG20

🖥️ The match to follow live: https://t.co/N0Jz4Ti6JL pic.twitter.com/soh4oqw7pR

- France tv sport (@francetvsport) October 4, 2020

A moment suspended

For two sets, the show looked as expected, with a closed roof.

Cascading moths of Dominic Thiem, a courageous and playful Frenchman, but an inevitable result?

When did the story become cult?

We don't really know anymore.

But suddenly, we woke up to two races to one, in a Central which made more noise at 1000 than it ever made in his life.

The Gaston family had brought back all the youth of Toulouse, or not far, and their incessant buzz won all the stands, including the empty ones.

Before our astonished eyes, a kid of 1m73 was spinning the Austrian machine.

55 depreciations, including 40 which allowed him to gain the point.

"I have always liked the little game, sometimes I do a little too much or not at the right time, but it is a super important in my range".

He missed the last three, and it cost him the game, but how can we blame him?

It's not true!

Hugo Gaston scored 55 depreciations.

He won 40 *

* Unreal!

Hugo Gaston made 55 dropshots.

He won 40 of them # RG20

- Steph Trudel (@TrudelSteph) October 4, 2020

"I am very happy with my attitude"

Two days after typing Wawrinka, the kid was able to compete with version 2.0 despite having two sets of handicap.

Did he see himself winning, two rounds everywhere, when Thiem watered the Chatrier, the impression of not knowing what was falling on him?

"At no time do I tell myself that, I don't see if he misses that much.

I wanted to keep going for the points, which I managed to do, even though Dominic ended up winning the game.

I am very happy with my attitude.

Playing against great players on long courts, that's all it takes to gain experience ”.

Seeing the Austrian clan leap on Thiem's ​​second match point, the good one after a first saved by a passing from Gaston's mutant, we understood that the winner of the US Open believed he would pass. .

Thiem even forgot about the Covid rules to congratulate the impudent up close at the net.

“I don't know if I've seen a player with such a hand before.

If he continues to work, he will give a lot of joy to the people who will come to see him play ”.

In the spans of Chatrier, Thierry the patriarch, had trouble realizing the moment: “I didn't think he could play the match he did;

He proved that you don't have to be two meters tall to play tennis ”.

"His drop shots are from another planet ... I was sprinting like 400 times to the net" 😆 @ ThiemDomi impressed (if not a little tired) from some of those drop shots from Gaston ... # RolandGarros pic.twitter.com / fIavNlIjwX

- Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) October 4, 2020

"It will stir a little around him"

Gaston's small size meant that he was not retained in Paris after the closure of Insep.

But the FFT left Marc Barbier at his disposal.

The two men worked like crazy.

“I was confident about Hugo's level, I knew he could produce the game and that the preparation had been good, but it's a little supernatural to think that we have a touch of regret not to have beaten Thiem in a fifth set in the round of 16 ”.

The hardest part happens.

Ovationed by a conquered public, Gaston will collapse under expectations when no one knew him two weeks ago.

Do not take the boulard and go back to the turbine without complaining.

Barbier: “We have an objective, we have a path, we will stay on course.

We imagine that there will be a lot of commotion, things will stir quite a bit around Hugo, but we will try to live it as quietly as possible.

The expectations, we cannot control them, the training, yes ”.

The young man seems to still have his feet touching the ground: "I hope that next year I will not need an invitation to enter the final table".

That would mean that he did not make it into the top 100, and who can believe it, after this magical week?

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