Hitesh Chauhan, first Indian to reach second round of French Open juniors since 2016, gets lesson in holding nerve on big stage

Chauhan felt that a significant majority of the crowd was supporting him even though he lost 2-6, 6-2, 6-7 (6) over two hours and six minutes. “It was so good. When I went off the court, they were shouting for me more than the guy who won. After I went off the court, there were a bunch of people around me outside, a lot of kids, taking photos with me,” he said.

Hitesh Chauhan in action during his Junior Grand Slam debut at the French Open. (Credit: Roundglass Sports)

It was the first time since 2016 that an Indian singles player had advanced that far at the Roland Garros juniors, and the first time since 2015 that a male player from the country had achieved this feat. Chauhan admits that he didn’t expect to get to that stage himself, especially in his first Grand Slam.

His journey ended by the second round, but Chauhan got a taste of two pretty fundamental aspects of big-ticket tennis – digging deep, something one would probably have to do in any tournament, and feeding off the crowd, which a player in the juniors rarely gets to experience.

Hailing from Ludhiana, Punjab, Chauhan trains under Aditya Sachdeva, who had mentored Yuki Bhambri to the 2009 Australian Open junior title. He said that he called Sachdeva after that second-round defeat. “Of course, I cried a bit because it was a very close match. He picked up the phone, saying, ‘haan mere sher!’ He said he was very proud of me and that I made everyone over there proud,” Hitesh said.

Chauhan says that the player he idolises the most is Rafael Nadal; he had to channel some of the dogged determination that the Spaniard was famous for during his second match in the qualification rounds. “My legs, my arms, they were all cramping. I just thought you don’t get these chances again and again, just play. I was taking medical breaks whenever possible in the third set, that was a very tough match that day. But once the match started going, I got into the groove of it…” And Hitesh went on to win the match 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.

Chauhan now gets into the grass court swing and is eyeing Wimbledon. He says that clay is his favourite surface and the one that he has played the most on growing up. However, he had just two days to adjust to the clay courts of Roland Garros, which he said was far slower than anything he had experienced earlier.

Now comes an even bigger switch to grass but Chauhan is leaning on what Sachdeva told him as a starting point to the process. “He was saying, ‘it’s in your mind, there is nothing about the surfaces.’ I think they matter a lot but if the mind is really disciplined, you just have to play your game. If you don’t think about the challenges that come with the differences in surface, get your mind adjusted to the right attitude, the results will come,” said Chauhan.