The players were awarded their trophies, one for the champion and one for the runner-up. Then came an additional prize: a big box of juice, reserved for the titlist, and an umbrella for the finalist. For a pair of eight-year-olds, this was a drastic difference.
Edas Butvilas was brought to tears when he received the umbrella. It was a punch to the gut while his close friend, Vilius Gaubas, left the Lithuanian city of Palanga with the bigger trophy and coveted juice.
Years later, that moment stands out as both Butvilas and Gaubas are now rising #NextGenATP stars who are enjoying promising starts on the ATP Challenger Tour.
“I lost the final and I remember exactly. I cried for a long time because I wanted the big box of juice and at that time I didn’t care about the umbrella at all, I gave it away to my parents,” Butvilas told ATPTour.com.
“The loss wasn’t that painful, but I saw what he got for the prizes, it was really sad. I still remember it. I talk about it sometimes with Vilius.”
Entering the 2024 season, there had only been two Lithuanian winners in Challenger history (since 1978): Ricardas Berankis and Laurynas Grigelis. Butvilas, who won last week’s Charleston Challenger, and Gaubas have each secured their maiden title at that level in the past two months.
Gaubas is ninth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, five spots ahead of Butvilas. They are both aiming for maiden qualification for the 20-and-under Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF.
For Lithuania, a country with a relatively small imprint in tennis history, the future is bright.
“This is one of the best things that can happen, that we dreamed of,” Butvilas said of his rise alongside Gaubas. “We grew up together. We are the same age so we were dreaming together, playing together and now rising up like this, it’s just a dream come true.”
Butvilas, who grew up in Klaipeda, began playing tennis aged two alongside his father Tomas, who is a tennis coach. When Butvilas was around age 11, his mother, Dana, began taking him to international tournaments.
[ATP APP]“I remember going with my mom in the car and we were driving a lot of kilometres together, just playing many tournaments,” Butvilas said. “Around Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, really close. Poland, sometimes Germany, Austria. Sometimes going to Iceland, I’ve been there two times, I think to play Tennis Europe.”
Butvilas grew up idolising Roger Federer and former World No. 50 Berankis, whose 15 Challenger titles leads Lithuanians. “He showed that even from a small country like Lithuania, we can do really good in tennis,” Butvilas said.
At age 15, Butvilas moved to Alicante, Spain to begin training at the Club Atlético Montemar. Butvilas met coach Ivan Navarro, who has been travelling with the Lithuanian for roughly two years.
Butvilas last week earned a milestone victory when he claimed his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title on the hard courts of Charleston, South Carolina. It was just his ninth outing at the Challenger level.
Edas Butvilas triumphs at the Challenger 75 event in Charleston. Credit: LTP Challenger
Butvilas, now at a career-high World No. 261 in the PIF ATP Rankings, became the first lucky loser Challenger champion since February 2023.
“It is still tough to believe it because I was so close to being out of the tournament,” Butvilas said. “I lost in qualies and I got the lucky-loser spot and then everything went my way.
“It was really tough conditions there, so hot and humid. In the second round of qualies, I cramped in the last set and almost threw up. I was feeling really bad. Then I got the lucky-loser spot and I had to play the next day again and I won 7-5 in the third. Mentally, I fought a lot that week.”
Still early in his career, Butvilas has already learned an important lesson: the tide will turn in your favour if you remain resilient.
“I lost many close matches this year. My coach always told me that tennis can change really fast at any point,” Butvilas said. “I just was thinking, ‘Why not this time?’”
Did You Know?
Butvilas is a two-time junior Slam doubles champion. He won the 2021 Wimbledon boys' doubles event alongside Alejandro Manzanera Pertusa and the 2022 Roland Garros boys' doubles title with Mili Poljicak.
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