Jesper de Jong had to give it his all on Tuesday to reach the second round at Roland Garros. After losing two sets, he stepped off the court for a toilet break, where he rediscovered his fighting spirit. “I had no other choice.”
The audience thinks De Jong is going for a nervous pee in the toilet with a 2-0 deficit, but nothing could be further from the truth. He mainly wants to be alone for a while.
At that moment, the North Hollander knows that he has to win three sets to reach the second round. He decides to let everything out and throws his cap on the ground several times.
“I didn’t really have any other choice,” says de Jong two hours after his match. “If I don’t step off the court there and talk to my coaches, things will go wrong and you’ll be down an early break again.”
“It helps to be completely alone in a room for a while,” continues De Jong. “I said to myself: idiot, you’re making it way too difficult for yourself. Then you’re incredibly angry for a moment, but that helped.”
‘Was not comfortable’
After the toilet break, a different version of De Jong is on the court. A fighter who goes for every point and makes it very difficult for his Italian opponent Francesco Passaro.
The nerves are also gone. “I had to get used to the court and the crowds. I didn’t panic, but I wasn’t comfortable. Fortunately, when I started playing better in that third set, that went away.”
In the end, his moment of peace in the French toilet turns out to be a golden find. De Jong fights his way back into the match and still drags the victory across the line. “Another milestone,” laughs De Jong.
In the second round, De Jong faces a tough task. He will face Alexander Zverev, the number three in the world, who was previously defeated by De Jong’s compatriot Tallon Griekspoor earlier this year. “But I’m not going to ask him for tips. I’m just going to do it myself.”