And after becoming the youngest match winner ever at the ATP Masters 1000 event, Kouame got a special text message.<\/p>\n
\u201dI have a small secret\u2026 After the win, Novak [Djokovic]<\/a> texted me,\u201d Kouame told Tennis Channel<\/a>. \u201dI\u2019m so nervous, I don\u2019t know what to answer. He texted me something like: ‘Big match today. Congrats. Hopefully you will go far.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201dMaybe [I should reply]: \u2018Thank you, Novak. Thank you, my idol.\u2019 No\u2026 I don\u2019t know! Imagine having your idol DM you like this\u2026 It\u2019s the coolest thing ever.\u201d<\/p>\n Kouame has previously spoken about his admiration for Djokovic, picking out the 24-time Grand Slam winner as one of his idols growing up.<\/p>\n Highlights: Sinner overcomes Medvedev to win maiden Indian Wells title<\/p>\n Video credit: SNTV<\/p>\n \u201dI hope, one day, they won\u2019t be dreams, but a reality, and this is really what I am working for,\u201d Kouame said.<\/p>\n Djokovic, 38, won his first Masters 1000 match in 2005, more than three years before Kouame was born.<\/p>\n Kouame is seen as one of the faces of the next generation of men\u2019s tennis, with the French teenager enjoying a rapid rise to stardom.<\/p>\n He is ranked No. 385 in the world and is the youngest player inside the top 900.<\/p>\n Kouame made his ATP Tour debut earlier this season in Montpellier and already has two ITF World Tennis Tour titles to his name.<\/p>\n His victory over Svajda at the Miami Open means he surpasses the record set by Rafael Nadal in Hamburg in 2003 as the youngest to claim an ATP Masters 1000 win.<\/p>\n Having lost the first set against Svajda, Kouame trailed 3-4 in the second and was down 0-40 to his US opponent.<\/p>\n But he showed composure that belied his age, winning 14 of the next 16 points to take control and go to a deciding third set, which he would eventually win.<\/p>\n \u201dIt\u2019s huge,\u201d Kouame told Tennis Channel after the match. \u201d[My] first main draw at a Masters 1000 here in Miami – it\u2019s such a cool place. I\u2019m really happy to win that match today, and hopefully I can win many more.<\/p>\n \u201dIt\u2019s my first time, so I didn\u2019t expect all of this, but here I am. I need to get used to it pretty fast. It brings me a lot of confidence. It shows me that I\u2019m on the right path. I just need to keep working.\u201d<\/p>\n Kouame will face No. 21 seed Jiri Lehecka in the second round.<\/p>\n Watch and stream the 2026 French Open live on TNT Sports and HBO Max<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘I think she’s coming back’ – Djokovic hopes for Serena Williams return at Wimbledon Video credit: SNTV Moise…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[172444,101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-486563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-miami-mens-singles-2026","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"picture\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-6c18e83f-73a7-44c6-8d68-55446e99797f-85-2560-1440.png\")
<\/p>\n