ATP Tour

After helping secure Petzschner's haircut, McDonald wins Roland Garros boys' title

German Niels McDonald won his first Grand Slam boys’ singles title on Saturday when he defeated countryman Max Schoenhaus 6-7(5), 6-0, 6-3 in the Roland Garros final.

“I’m extremely happy to start here [among] all the players and end up winning the tournament. It's an honour after probably a lot of legends have won this,” McDonald said. “But also, it's just one step of a big goal and dream I'm chasing that I started [in my] early years. So today or tomorrow we can celebrate, but at the end, then we also go back to work. Then we keep working to maybe play here on the big stage one day.”

The 17-year-old, who is coached by Gianluca Marchiori, ousted four seeded opponents, including top seed Andres Santmarta Roig, en route to the trophy. He won 70 per cent of his second-serve points in the final, according to Infosys Stats.

There was excitement among the finalists before the championship clash. German national coach Philipp Petzschner, the former No. 35 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, had agreed that if a German won the title, he would get a haircut of their choice. Since two players from the country made the final, Petzschner got his haircut before the final.

“We went to the barbershop yesterday at 6:30. We booked an appointment for him,” McDonald said. “First we wanted to do like an Avatar haircut, just like an arrow on his head. Then watching it live, we were dying of laughter. Then we ended up feeling so bad we said, ‘Alright, shave everything off’.”

^{Photo: Peter Staples/ATP Tour}
McDonald became the first German boys’ singles champion at Roland Garros since Daniel Elsner in 1997 and the first German boy to win a major singles title since Alexander Zverev at the 2014 Australian Open.

“It’s an absolute honour and pleasure to win this tournament,” McDonald said. “And I'm more than happy to raise the trophy here.”