Taucher: The biggest victory we can have

Following the introduction of junior wheelchair events at the US Open in 2022, Roland-Garros followed suit in 2024 with singles and doubles competitions. The singles draws in Paris comprise four girls and four boys, with each respective event starting at the semi-final stage. The four players in each draw then pair up for a straight final to vie for the doubles titles.

No.1 seed Taucher eased through his first set on Friday on a breezy Court 12, before his opponent responded with three breaks in the second to force a tiebreak, threatening Taucher’s straight sets record in the singles competition. 

“The first set I played very well,” he said. “I was able to play my tennis. But in the second set, Charlie played better and better, so we were in a very tight match. The second set was good tennis from both."

“It's very cool to win [a] Grand Slam in tennis,” he added. “It's the biggest victory that we can have in tennis.

“Because my favourite surface is clay that means it is even more important to me that I have won at Roland-Garros.”

The Austrian has relished his time in Paris this year, particularly the opportunity to meet other players and use the experience to develop his own game. One of his particular idols is Japan’s Paralympic champion Tokito Oda, who is bidding for a third consecutive title this year at Roland-Garros.

“From the wheelchair players in the top 10, I learn a lot from them,” Taucher said. “From [Oda], I watch how he drives, how he plays the point and it is very cool when I see them here,” he said. “I like to watch videos of him at home and also live. He is a player I can learn from.”

Taucher has also had the chance to meet world No.1 Jannik Sinner. “He is a very nice guy. He said to me that I am a very good player and he wished me good luck for the future,” he said.

The Austrian had little time to celebrate his win on Friday before teaming up with Cooper for the doubles where they defeated Brazil’s Luiz Calixto and his partner Belgian Alexander Lantermann 6-4, 6-0.

Another Brazilian in the junior wheelchair competitions, Vitoria Miranda, went further than her compatriot, taking the title in the singles and doubles. She defeated the USA’s Sabina Czauz 6-3, 6-2 before teaming up with another Belgian – Luna Gryp – to seal victory over Czauz and Emma Gjerseth of Sweden.

There were two other wheelchair finals at Roland-Garros on Friday. In the morning, No.1 seeds Niels Vink and Guy Sasson took the quad wheelchair doubles title with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Ahmet Kaplan and Donald Ramphadi on Court 7.

In the women’s doubles final, Paralympic champion in singles and doubles Yui Kamiji and partner Kgothatso Montjane took a tight final 4-6, 7-5, 10-7 against No.2 seeds Li Xiaohui and Wang Ziying.

Saturday will conclude the wheelchair competitions at Roland-Garros 2025.

Opening on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, No.1 seed in the women’s singles Kamiji will face Dutch star and No.2 seed Aniek Van Koot, who is looking to complete the career Slam with a win in Paris.

Vink and Sasson will face each other over the net in the quad singles final on Court 14 before Oda and Alfie Hewett take to the court for a much-anticipated men’s singles final. Oda is bidding for an RG three-peat, while Hewett will be looking to add an 11th Grand Slam title to his trophy collection.

Hewett will also team up with long-term partner Gordon Reid in a bid to secure a sixth consecutive men’s doubles title when they come up against Oda and France’s Stephen Houdet.