Prizmic emulates Cilic to win Roland Garros boys title for Croatia
Dino Prizmic, 17 years old and already ranked at No. 293 on the ATP Tour, did what he came here to do: he won the Roland Garros boys singles title. Another extremely solid performance, this time against Juan Carlos Prado Angelo, saw him claim the title with a 6-1 6-4 victory on Saturday.
For Prado Angelo, who would have become the first Bolivian player to win a Grand Slam singles title in any discipline, it was disappointment. But he can be proud of his achievements this week nonetheless.
“It’s a big achievement," Prizmic said. "It was my dream when I was a kid so I’m really happy for myself, for my team and for my whole family.”
Prizmic is the second Croatian player to win a Roland Garros junior singles title, after Marin Cilic, who won in Paris in 2005. He is now also the fourth Croatian player to win a Grand Slam boys’ singles title after Cilic, Borna Coric (2013 US Open) and Mili Poljicak (2022 Wimbledon).
“It’s a big pleasure for me to be the second Croatian to win this tournament,” he added.
Primzic kept walking his talk this week, saying he was here for the title and delivering. It was clear once again during this final why he was considered by many to be the favourite from the start: there are no gaps in his clay-court game.
The spin he generated on his forehand totally ruined Prado Angelo’s plans to be agressive, while his backhand is so steady that it is difficult to hit through him on that wing. He protects himself well on serve too.
“I’m a very good fighter. Every point is like match point so on this match it has been paying off,” Prizmic analysed later.
The new Roland Garros champion has also impressed this week with how calm his demeanour has been. While he has already won five professional titles on the ITF World Tennis Tour, and reached the quarterfinals at five Challenger-level events, he carried his status with a lot of humility and class.
"I feel pressure on every match, it’s normal, but I tried to just play my tennis and after a while the pressure was gone," he said. "There were so many people around the court, wanting to see good tennis, so for me during this match it was just normal pressure. Pressure goes with tennis.”
Prizmic will of course now try to move forward on the same tempo on the professional Tour, but he’s very clear about the fact that he needs more time before having big ambitions there too.
“That’s a big thing for me but for now I need to play more Challengers to gain more experience," he added. « I won Junior Roland-Garros but it’s definitely not enough for men’s tennis. It’s just the beginning. I also need to play more aggressively to play with them. I’m going to continue to work because I think I need to spend more time on the court, because every player on the ATP has had so many training so right now I need train more and get more experience at tournaments.”
In the boys’ doubles, top seeds Yaroslav Demin and Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez won the title against Italians Lorenzo Sciahbasi and Gabriele Vulpitta, triumphing 6-2 6-3 on Saturday.