South Africa has one representative in the 2025 French Open at Roland Garros, with Lloyd Harris coming up against the 17th seed Andrey Rublev of Russia in a tough opening round match on Sunday.
The 28-year-old Harris booked his spot in the main draw by winning his way through the qualifying event, and stunned former world No3 and Grand Slam champion, Marin Cilic of Croatia, in the third round of qualifiers in Paris.
Harris was put to the test in what was just his fourth win of 2025, grinding out a hard-fought 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory on the clay courts of Roland Garros after 2 hours and 15 minutes on court.
Now he heads into the main draw.
The former world No31 has competed on all the grandest stages, highlighted by reaching the quarter-final at US Open 2021. However, wrist surgery in 2022 and back surgery in late 2024 derailed his progress.
Since returning to competitive tennis in February, he has struggled to rediscover his top form with a 1-7 match record across all levels prior to heading to Paris.
“It’s been tough, but for me it’s all about being healthy. Every match I get being injury free is a mega win for me. I’ve found myself enjoying these last two matches, playing the brand of tennis I want to play. I truly felt like myself out there,” he said.
“Hopefully we can get through another one, but the most important win is staying healthy.”
Harris would be forgiven for feeling despondent. Instead the world No226 flips the script and is determined to look forward.
“What’s kept me positive is having a good team around – family, friends, girlfriend – everyone has been saying how much they believe in me. Even when you doubt it, you hear it from them and ‘Ok, maybe I can make another big push.’ But it’s all got to come from within,” he insisted.
“I thought last year I was getting the 2.0 of Lloyd Harris, I had to go do another surgery, that was pretty harsh. You’ve got to rebound, got to fight for it, got to do everything again to start from zero.
“This is only the beginning, it’s the first true week that I’m playing some decent tennis, feeling good, so I’m very pleased. Hopefully we can come back to version 3.0 of Lloyd Harris, there’s a long journey to go, but I’m excited to be on the path finally.”
