By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday June 12, 2021
A tournament that started with some difficult moments has ended quite beautifully for Les Bleus in Paris.
After not a single man or woman reached the singles draw in Paris for the first time in the Open Era, four French reached the semifinals of the Boys’ Singles draw – which was won by Luca Van Assche on Saturday—while Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut teamed up for their fifth Grand Slam title in the men’s doubles final, defeating Andrey Golubev and Alexander Bublik, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4.
The Celebration at the conclusion of the match on Court Philippe-Chatrier was epic, as it always is when Herbert and Mahut win a Slam.
The most moving moment occurs as the crowd belts out La Marseillaise, while Mahut bursts into tears as Herbert sings along.
Nobody in tennis provides the syrupy-sweet emotional celebrations like Mahut and Herbert.
After the final they were asked if this one their most meaningful title of the five they have earned together.
“I think it could be,” Herbert said. “But also maybe for me it was the worst feeling on the court for a final. I was struggling the whole match. It was kind of two match from the start of the tournament. I wanted it so bad, maybe even more badly than the other four, that it was really special.
“Yeah, it's tough to compare because it's always different, the emotions are always different. But for me it's my dream as a kid to win Roland Garros. To be able to do it a second time in front of this crowd, I think it's really, yeah, maybe the best emotions that I've had in the end by winning this one.”
The pair saved three match points in their semi-final against Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal, and were bageled in the first set of their third-round match against Robin Haase and Jan-Lennard Struff before winning in a third-set tiebreaker.
They won from a set down in three of their six matches in Paris to become the first all-French team to win multiple titles at Roland-Garros and move into a tie for fifth place on the all-time Open Era men’s doubles team Grand Slam titles list.
“Being able to lift this trophy is just amazing because I think we won all these matches, not really because we were better players, our level was not really better, but our behavior on court and the way we stayed positive, the way we managed to play with the fears we had, that's why now we can look at each other and say we did an amazing week,” Herbert said. “This brings also something special to this win.”