Reilly Opelka became the second consecutive American, after Noah Rubin, to win the boys’ singles title, defeating No.12 seed Mikael Ymer 7-6(5), 6-4.
The sizeable crowd on No.1 Court enjoyed a closely-fought contest, with little to separate the players. The unseeded Opelka’s notoriously good serve proved the key, however, as he fired down 15 aces and many more service winners.
With no break points on offer for either player in the opening set, it came down to a tie-break, and first blood went to Ymer after a rare double fault by the 6ft 10in Opelka.
However, Opelka drew level soon after and went ahead 4-3 with a volley winner. Extending his lead to bring up three set points, he took the third with a cross-court forehand winner.
Ymer saved a break point in the third game of the second set, but double-faulted when break point down in the ninth game to hand Opelka the chance to serve for the title. With no hint of tension, he needed just one Championship point to win his maiden Grand Slam as Ymer pulled a backhand wide.
There was no wild celebration from the 17-year-old champion, just a series of fist-pumps as he looked towards his box.
“It feels great. You know, it was a good match today," he said. "Mikael made me work for it, for sure,” he said. “I served really well. Every time I felt there could have been a pressure moment, 30-all, 15-30, I came up with an ace or a service winner.”
I started out down match point the first round. Luckily I was able to get through that
Despite impressing in his run to the final, a notable highlight being his semi-final victory over No.1 seed Taylor Fritz, it was not plain sailing throughout for Opelka.
“I started out down match point the first round,” he recalled. “Luckily I was able to get through that. I progressed almost every single match from there on. I felt like I got better throughout the whole tournament.”
Asked why he thought he had clicked on grass midway through the week, he credited playing doubles for giving him the opportunity to work on his serving and returning.
“I started off a little bit nervous in the warm-up,” he said. “By the time I was hitting my first serve, I wasn't really thinking too much about the court, the people, whatever.
“It was a great experience, that's for sure.”
Following Rubin’s victory last year and Tommy Paul’s recent French Open title, Opelka’s victory is further good news for American tennis. “It's got to be the best it's been for the juniors in a while,” he said.
“It's great knowing that all the competition – there's a high level in the United States – that we have access to practise with each other whenever.”
“Seeing Tommy hold up the trophy is great for American tennis but then it makes us want to try to do the same.”
Before he can celebrate he has the small matter of the boys’ doubles finals, alongside Japan’s Akira Santillan.
