Roland Garros has a new teenage name to watch. France’s Moise Kouame, ranked world number 318, beat former US Open champion Marin Cilic 7-6(4) 6-2 6-1 to become the youngest man to win a Grand Slam main-draw match in 17 years.
Kouame is 17 years and two months old. His win made him the youngest male player to win a singles Grand Slam match since Australia’s Bernard Tomic reached the second round of the 2009 Australian Open at age 16.
He is also the youngest player to record a first-round win at the French Open since Romania’s Dinu Pescariu in 1991. Kouame became the first teenager to beat a major champion in his first Grand Slam main draw match since Marat Safin beat Andre Agassi at Roland Garros in 1998.
Born in 2009 in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles, Kouame is of Ivorian-Cameroonian descent. His mother, who has “always made a big impact”, was his first coach and now manages his career.
He started playing tennis at age six after being inspired by his older brother, Michael, and trained at the National Tennis Centre in Poitiers. He is now coached by former world number 7 Richard Gasquet, and reports said he added Laurent Raymond to his team earlier this year.
The 1.91 metre Frenchman has a strong serve and forehand and likes playing on every surface, which matches his nickname “KTT”, short for “Kouame every surface”.
The win over Cilic is his biggest career victory so far, unless he beats Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo in the second round on Thursday. Kouame has won three ITF titles and has received several wildcards on the main tour, including for the 2026 Monte-Carlo Masters and Miami Open.
At the Miami Open, he beat American Zachary Svajda to become the youngest match winner in that tournament’s history.
“It’s a lot of emotion, it’s exceptional,” Kouame said. “Coming into this tournament, I didn’t really know what to expect. The team and I worked hard to be as ready as possible.”
He said his time in Miami and Monte-Carlo helped him in Tuesday’s win.
“Technically, I felt pretty calm. I knew I was ready and I felt good mentally and physically.”
Kouame also dismissed the 20-year age gap with Cilic.
“I didn’t care about his age. I just wanted to give him shots that were as complicated to play as possible.
“So for some, the age factor may play a role, but as far as I’m concerned, I tried to focus, not to think about it, because in the end, when you’re on court, you don’t think about your age or what you’re going to eat. You think about what you have to do to win.”
Kouame also played men’s doubles at the French Open with Giovanni Mpetshi Perrica. The French pair lost 6-4 1-6 6-4 to Americans Robert Cash and James Tracy.
He is also due to play mixed doubles with current French number 2 Elsa Jacquemot against American Christian Harrison and Hungary’s Fanny Stollar.
Read more from Al Jazeera.
