French teenager Moise Kouame announced himself at Roland Garros with a 7-6(4) 6-2 6-1 upset of former world No.3 and 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic.
At 17, Kouame became the youngest player in the Open era to defeat a Grand Slam champion in men’s singles at Roland Garros, surpassing Michael Chang’s mark from 1989.
This was Kouame’s Grand Slam debut, and his second career win at ATP-level after defeating Zachary Svajda at Miami Masters 2026 – a victory which had him lauded as the youngest man to win an ATP Masters 1000 match since Rafael Nadal in 2003.
“Miami I think kind of helped me, in a way, because playing a 1000 is a big tournament,” Kouame said in his post-match press conference.
“I kind of knew the atmosphere that I was about to have or to hear on court. Yeah, Roland Garros, Miami, Monte-Carlo, was I think important tournaments to play to require a certain amount of experience.”
Throughout his Roland Garros opener, the 17-year-old showed a remarkable level of composure that belied his limited experience. When asked how he could stay so focused and calm when confronting the pressures of performing in front of a home crowd as well as playing against a former major champion, Kouame’s answer was simple.
“Well, training,” he said. “I knew that I put a lot of hours into training, so the tactic also was clear coming up on the match.
“If I played and then I lose, then it's okay. I have other tournaments. Yeah, obviously playing a former Grand Slam champion also maybe in a way, relaxed me. I knew that he was going to be a big match, a good match. I knew that also I had the team behind me supporting me. I had the crowd … lot of elements contributed to relax me.”
Kouame’s breakthrough has been building for months. After reaching a peak junior ranking of world No.14 in March 2025, Kouame burst onto the men’s tour in 2026, claiming back-to-back ITF World Tennis Tour titles at the M25 event in Hazebrouck and the M15 in Bressuire in January.
The consecutive titles crowned Kouame the youngest Frenchman to win a professional title since Richard Gasquet (16) at the Sarajevo Challenger in 2003.
And at 17 years and 79 days, Kouame is the second youngest French player to have won a Grand Slam match since the start of the Open era after Thierry Tulasne (16 years and 319 days) at Roland Garros in 1980.
Now, having notched a Grand Slam match win at such a young age, these record-busting results from the teenager are enough to draw worldwide attention, but for the No.318, he is taking a more measured approach.
“After all, I'm 17, and I have won one Grand Slam match. I don't think that my opponent today thought, ‘oh, he's 17’. He was trying to play his best, and same for me,” Kouame said.
“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 … when you're on court, you don't think about your age.
“You think about what you have to do to win.”