Rods and the reasons for a Peruvian to win a Grand Slam match again after 15 years

And this time, paradoxically, he had to be on the other side of the net. A year ago Juan Pablo suffered a comeback after winning the first two against Félix Auger-Aliassime and falling in five sets in what was his first match in a Grand Slam. This time, Varillas survived to drop the first two sets, but came back to win it in solid fashion.

“Juan Pablo Varillas’ match speaks of his best virtue, resilience and courage,” the journalist Ricardo Montoya, who closely follows all the news in national tennis, tells us briefly.

Not even the public that encouraged the Chinese made Juanpi stop believing. Because they also heard a “Vamos Perú” from some compatriot, although in a minority, but which always motivates any national. And also, that Varillas had the presence of his parents in the gallery as a better encouragement.

“Very happy, it is a huge joy. Beyond winning, it’s how I won it, going down two sets,” Varillas commented to ESPN, where he acknowledged that he suffered against the talent of 18-year-old Chinese Juncheng Shang, but found a good third set to start the comeback.

For tennis player Pablo Arraya, there were determining factors in Varillas. “Two specific things first, his excellent concentration and faith to lift such a difficult match. Second, an impressive physique in which he finished intact ”, he tells us just after the match.

And Varillas got into the game because neither the ‘Toilet time’ at the end of the fourth set, nor the ‘Medical’ during the fifth set the Peruvian off concentration, who solid with his first serve achieved the historic comeback for the Peruvian.

“He began to fail a bit and I took advantage and took the opportunity,” says the Peruvian, who had already played five sets at Roland Garros 2022 and Australian Open 2023, something that marks you as experience to face this type of match.

“It has definitely helped him a lot. The good thing is that at the beginning of his Davis Cup career he played many five-setters. He lost many of them but the fact of having played them will help him a lot in the future”, Arraya assures about Varillas, whom he managed in the Peruvian national team.

Helped by the physical difficulties of the Chinese, Juan Pablo was able to find that strength to close the fifth set, always at the hands of his coach Diego Junqueira, whom he watched and with whom he celebrated each point. Shang showed why he became junior number one when you were 16 and is shown with part of the future of tennis.

“In a few years we are going to talk about this victory, because Shang is called to do great things, he has all the talent in the world,” reflects Montoya about the Peruvian rival.

Thus, Juan Pablo Varillas has managed to win his first match in the main draw of a Grand Slam on his third attempt. And Peruvian tennis celebrates a victory in a Major after 15 years since the last time it had happened was thanks to Luis Horna over Scoville Jenkins in the first round of Roland Garros 2008 (6-4, 5-7, 6- 3 and 6-0).

“I like to put Peruvian tennis in the big tournaments,” Juan Pablo Varillas assured a few weeks ago and at Roland Garros he has shown that he has the talent to continue playing among the elite. Now, in the second round, the winner of the duel between Bautista Agut and Yibing Wu, which the Spaniard has been winning.

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