Hitesh Chauhan, first Indian to reach second round of French Open juniors since 2016, gets lesson in holding nerve on big stage

When 17-year-old Hitesh Chauhan started his boys’ singles second-round match at the French Open against American sixth seed Ben Willwerth last week, a handful of people were peppered around the stands.

- GNS News Agency, June 20

By the time word went around that he was about to win the second set, the atmosphere was significantly different.“When we started it was just me, my coach and his coaches and a few people there,” Chauhan tells The Indian Express. “Can't be more than 10 or 15 in the stands. But by the time the third set started, all the seats were full. They were hooting, ‘let’s go Hitesh let's go, Alle!”