PARIS, June 8, 2019

Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies clinched the doubles trophies at Roland Garros. In their first ever appearance in Paris, the German duo defeated the all-French combination of Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin 6-2, 7-6(3) in Saturday’s final on Court Philippe-Chatrier in one hour and 25 minutes.

Krawietz and Mies defeated two seeded pairs en route to the title match, including last year’s champion Nicolas Mahut, who played with Jürgen Melzer here this year and was seeded No. 13, in the second round and last year’s finalists, No. 4 seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic in the third round. They dropped only two sets during the entire tournament.

It’s victory for the Germans!

Krawietz/Mies defeat Chardy/Martin 6-2 7-6(3).#RG19 pic.twitter.com/AmRX62ewho

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) 8. Juni 2019

“Absolutely no words for this. We played first time French Open and won the title. I don’t know. It sounds ridiculous,” Krawietz said in the post-match press conference.

“It’s an incredible feeling. Of course we were nervous in the final. But before the tournament, if somebody said, like, we play quarters or, I don’t know, we say, okay, we are fine with this.”

Krawietz and Mies are just the third all-German pair to have reached a Grand Slam men’s doubles final after Henner Henkel and Gottfried von Cramm finished runner-up at the 1938 Australian Championships and Marc-Kevin Goellner and David Prinosil reached the championships match in Paris in 1993.

“What can I say about us? We just want to enjoy the tennis. We just want to promote doubles in the best possible way,” Mies said. “You can see it on the court. We’re having fun together. We’re really enjoying what we’re doing.”

Krawietz and Mies captured two ATP Challenger team titles this season at Marbella and Heilbronn and celebrated their maiden triumph on the ATP Tour at the New York Open. The tandem started to play together on a regular basis only about one and half year ago.

“Our goal was always to try to win as many Challengers to get points. We had to be patient. It took a little bit. Because if you win a Challenger, it doesn’t allow you automatically to enter ATPs,” Mies explained.

“So the crucial moment was Wimbledon last year, where we used the chance of qualifying and we went to the third round. We lost with match points against Bryan/Sock who went on to win the tournament. But that was a moment where we realized we had the level to beat all the top guys.

“It took some time, but I would say after we won New York in February, we realized we can beat anyone. We belong on the ATP Tour.”

Further read: Interview (German) with Andreas Mies and Kevin Krawietz