Vilius Gabus – A Lithuanian for the absolute top of the world? tennisnet.com

While the last frost is still stubborn in parts of Germany, the Canary Islands are currently rejoicing with spring-like temperatures of over 25 degrees Celsius. So it’s no wonder that the hotels on the popular holiday archipelago could expect occupancy rates of over 85 percent during the Easter travel season.

© Florian Heer

Von Florian Heer from Telde

More than 60 tennis professionals who are currently taking part in the two-week TDC Series by Bidi Badu in Gran Canaria have also contributed to this. Held in the spacious and green Club de Campo El Cortijo in Telde, the second largest city on the island, there are also some interesting young players at the start.

Spotting talent in Gran Canaria

Among them the 18-year-old Lithuanian Vilius Gaubas, who traveled to Gran Canaria with a lot of self-confidence. Last week he celebrated his biggest triumph in men’s tennis in Reus, Catalonia. Having started as a qualifier, Gaubas celebrated his second title win on the ITF World Tennis Tour at the $25,000 clay court tournament.

“It wasn’t very easy physically today,” revealed Gaubas after his opening win on Wednesday in Gran Canaria in three sets against number 2 seeded Frenchman Clement Tabur. “The success in Reus gave me a lot of self-confidence and I hope to be able to take the momentum with me.”

Training with ex Top-25 crack and Davis Cup debut

Number 757 in the ATP world rankings did not need much time to get used to the conditions on the Canary Islands. “I train with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in Alicante. This is certainly an advantage. I like the warmth and the conditions on the pitch. The balls bounce high. It’s ideal for my game,” said the former top-20 junior, who cites Dominic Thiem and Casper Ruud as his role models and made his debut for Lithuania with a 4-0 win in the Davis Cup against Pakistan earlier this year.

“The atmosphere in Vilnius was unbelievable,” Gaubas recalled the encounter. “I was able to contribute to our team’s success by winning doubles and singles. It was a fantastic experience!”

Winning streak continued

With a lot of tailwind, further match successes against Leopold Zima from Germany, the Pole Marcel Zielinski and the number 7 seeded Spaniard Jorge Martinez Martinez followed in Gran Canaria this week, which again promoted Gaubas to a final. Finally, on Sunday afternoon, the teenager capped another outstanding week with a 7-6, 6-2 win over Spaniard Diego Augusto Barreto Sanchez in the final.

When asked about the greatest challenge of finally establishing oneself on the professional tour, Gaubas replied: “It’s less about actually playing tennis. The men are just mentally much stronger and in this respect have fewer dropouts than the juniors. That is the hardest part and we need to keep working on it.”