Is there anything stronger than winning your first career Masters 1000 match? Yes: Receive a message from your idol after your first success at this level. This is what happened to the young Frenchman Moïse Kouamé (17 years old), who defeated Zachary Svajda, 96th in the ATP, in three sets (5-7, 6-4, 6-4), Thursday, during the first round in Miami, who was entitled to congratulations by private message from a certain Novak Djokovic, of whom he is one of the biggest fans. An attention which touched the young man enormously as he recounted it in perfect English on the Tennis Channel set after his victory.
“Novak Djokovic wrote to me. I’m so nervous that I don’t even know what to answer him, confided the native of Sarcelles (Val-d’Oise). He sent me a message on Instagram to congratulate me and wish me to go far in the tournament. Honestly, receiving a message from your idol like that… It’s incredible. I can’t believe it. It’s too much for me. » This gesture of great class, like the champion Djokovic, proves that Kouamé is not called to be a player like the others, he who has been presented for several years already as a possible phenomenon.
“I’m on the right track”
The fact that on Thursday he became one of the youngest players to win a Masters 1000 match, with Rafael Nadal in 2003 (16 years old) and his coach Richard Gasquet in 2002 (15 years old), only confirms this feeling. “It’s incredible to be on a list with such champions,” he said after the match. Richard Gasquet, obviously, who is also my coach, brings me a lot of experience. And Rafael Nadal… We all know his track record. It gives me a lot of confidence and it shows that I’m on the right track. I just have to keep working. »
While waiting to see what will happen in the second round, Moïse Kouamé (395th in the world) has just reached an important step in his career, he who is already certain of gaining around sixty places in the ATP ranking at the end of the Californian tournament. And this is only the beginning, no doubt.
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