Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert’s doubles record was already immense with the four Grand Slam titles in hand (US Open 2015, Wimbledon 2016, Roland-Garros 2018 and the Australian Open), but winning a second Roland -Garros is unheard of for a French pair since the start of the open era. “It’s a privilege to play in front of you”, said Nicolas Mahut, with tears in his eyes, after their victory. Because this final was actually played in a Davis Cup atmosphere with an audience that never stopped pushing behind the French.
And they needed it, this support, because the pair Andrey Golubev – Alexander Bublik gave them a hard time. Much less experienced, the Kazakhs have long disturbed the more classic balance of the French pair. Unpredictable, they relied heavily on Bublik’s forces (serve and forehand) to make their opponents doubt. And Golubev was no exception. Twice the French were broken in the first set, twice on an untouchable return from Golubev.
“La Marseillaise” and tears
Led by a set to nothing, Mahut and Herbert had their backs to the wall. They then shared their experience. More applied, simpler, they managed to take Golubev’s service to lead 3-1. But Mahut let go of his serve behind. He would once again lose his serve and propel the Kazakhs to 5-4. With Bublik who served for the match.
But the French took care of their returns and put pressure on him, to the point of pushing him to the double fault. 5-5, the audience a little stunned by the loss of the first set woke up as one man. The inevitable tie-break was turning at the Mahut-Herbert festival. The two men recalled with their suits that they were not there by chance.
One round everywhere, the dynamics of the game were clearly reversed. A break to lead 4-3 opened the doors to the title. They weren’t going to let go, except tears at the time of the speeches and a Marseillaise intoned by the audience.
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