Dylan Guichard and Clément Geens caused one of the biggest upsets of the first round of the Madrid P1. After coming through qualifying, the Frenchman and the Belgian defeated Víctor Ruiz (42) and Mario Ortega (78) in two tiebreaks, 7-6, 7-6. A significant victory achieved after a particularly solid match, but one that doesn't seem to have satisfied the two players. Afterwards, they reflected on their performance, their teamwork, and their ambitions for the future. 

"We are proud of ourselves."

 After this huge victory, what are your first emotions? 

 Dylan Guichard:  I'm very happy. It's great because we did have a bit of a break of a month and a half this summer. We're happy to be back and to be able to play well right away.

Personally, I feel good physically. The Mediterranean Games were cool, and then I came here really just to play in the tournament. So I'm even happier that we managed to get through qualifying and play a good match today.

We're proud of ourselves and it motivates us to achieve even more. Our attitude is good, and so is our level of play. We're no longer afraid of certain teams. We get along very well both on and off the track. I think that helps us in tense matches like this one.

 Clement Geens:  Like Dylan, I'm very happy. I'm especially happy to be able to share this with him. Since there wasn't a match on Centre Court yet, a lot of people came to watch us play. It was really nice.

His entire team was there: his coach, his physiotherapist, and his physical trainer. My coach was also with us. Being able to share this victory with people who aren't always at tournaments is really great. I also had two friends in the stands.

As Dylan said, we had a good match. We're always happy to play together and we both want to put in the effort on the track for each other, not just for ourselves.

Madrid P1: Huge upset, Dylan Guichard and Clément Geens defeat Ruiz/Ortega

"We were definitely better in the first set."

 Despite two close sets, you gave the impression of being slightly superior for much of the match. Was that also the feeling you had on the court? 

 Clement Geens:  That's also what Matias (Matias Diaz), our coach, was telling me on the bench. We were playing well and dominating the rallies a bit, especially in the first set.

We were down 2-0 with a break, but in the first three or four games, I thought we were definitely better. The match then became more balanced. In the second set, it was truly 50-50.

While I felt we were slightly better than our opponents in the first set, that wasn't particularly true in the second. In fact, we didn't really have any break points in that set, unlike at the beginning of the match.

We played at a good level, without overplaying or trying anything crazy. I even think we're capable of playing much better. We're happy to be performing at this level, but we also know we can still improve. That's encouraging for the future.

 Dylan Guichard:  I completely agree. After conceding a break early on, I think we were only truly in danger once on our serve. So we were doing quite well in that area.

Even though we displayed a very high level of play, I was sometimes a little frustrated by what we were doing on the return games. I felt we could produce more, especially in the quality of our lobs, which were sometimes a bit average.

Overall, we remained fairly calm in our commitments and didn't encounter many difficult situations. Our main area for improvement is certainly in our comeback games. Several times, we found ourselves at 15-30 or 30-30 before slightly changing our approach or playing a different point.

The tiebreaks were very close, but ultimately they reflected the continuity of the two sets quite well. Each time, we managed to win one or two more points. This seemed fairly logical given the match, even though that's not always the case in a tiebreak. This time, it went our way.

"We have a fairly free style of play."

 Clément worked hard in his role as the metronome, while Dylan went to the net to win a lot of points, sometimes with a few more errors. Does this division of roles reflect your usual way of playing? 

 Dylan Guichard:  We have a fairly free-flowing style of play. It can sometimes seem a bit chaotic. We're not two players who need to have an extremely precise strategy. If we start overthinking things, if we get too hung up on it, it doesn't work as well anymore.

However, we have the ability to modify our organization. Whoever goes further forward or takes up more space can change depending on the matches, points, and opponents.

In this match, I think I sometimes rushed things a bit too much. Looking back, I certainly could have capitalized on certain situations more. But overall, we still found a good balance.

There are always areas for improvement. I'm going to try and review the match with a clear head to analyze what we could have done better.

"Our goal is to get directly into the standings."

 What difference do you make between a journey like the one in Madrid, with two wins in qualifying before achieving a performance in the main draw, and receiving a wild card directly, as will be the case at the Paris Major? 

 Clement Geens:  It's a completely different dynamic. This was already our third match. When you go through qualifying, the tournament starts much earlier. We play on the weekend and have to arrive several days in advance. It's clearly not the same as going straight into the main draw.

But our goal is precisely to earn enough points to be able to directly enter these draws in the future, starting with the Majors, because these are the tournaments with the most pairs.

At Roland-Garros, we weren't far from getting in directly. I think we were the second or third pair in qualifying. Once the special exempts If we were out, we should even be second.

We are obviously very happy to receive this wild card. It's clearly thanks to Dylan, and it's very positive that the FFT has placed its trust in us. We're going to try to give it our all.

The approach will be different, but our ultimate goal is to get directly into the main draws. This time, we're getting there via a wildcard, but that's where we want to go based on our ranking. So it doesn't change our approach to the tournament drastically.

Alexandre Prevert

Director & Coach of his high-level Academy in Barcelona: Alexandre shares life on the FIP circuits & Premier Padel !

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