pThe 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./p
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a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/edas-butvilas/b0mm/overview'Edas Butvilas/a was brought to tears when he received the umbrella. It was a punch to the gut while his close friend, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/vilius-gaubas/g0fw/overview'Vilius Gaubas/a, left the Lithuanian city of Palanga with the bigger trophy and coveted juice./p
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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./p
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ldquo;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 didnrsquo;t care about the umbrella at all, I gave it away to my parents,rdquo; Butvilas told ATPTour.com./p
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ldquo;The loss wasnrsquo;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.rdquo;/p
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Entering the 2024 season, there had only been two Lithuanian winners in Challenger history (since 1978): a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/ricardas-berankis/be90/overview'Ricardas Berankis/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/laurynas-grigelis/ga71/overview'Laurynas Grigelis/a. Butvilas, who won last weekrsquo;s Charleston Challenger, and Gaubas have each secured their maiden title at that level in the past two months./pp /
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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 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/next-gen-atp-finals/7696/overview'Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF/a./p
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For Lithuania, a country with a relatively small imprint in tennis history, the future is bright./p
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ldquo;This is one of the best things that can happen, that we dreamed of,rdquo; Butvilas said of his rise alongside Gaubas. ldquo;We grew up together. We are the same age so we were dreaming together, playing together and now rising up like this, itrsquo;s just a dream come true.rdquo;/p
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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./p[ATP APP]
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ldquo;I remember going with my mom in the car and we were driving a lot of kilometres together, just playing many tournaments,rdquo; Butvilas said. ldquo;Around Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, really close. Poland, sometimes Germany, Austria. Sometimes going to Iceland, Irsquo;ve been there two times, I think to play Tennis Europe.rdquo;/p
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Butvilas grew up idolising a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/roger-federer/f324/overview'Roger Federer/a and former World No. 50 Berankis, whose 15 Challenger titles leads Lithuanians. ldquo;He showed that even from a small country like Lithuania, we can do really good in tennis,rdquo; Butvilas said./p
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At age 15, Butvilas moved to Alicante, Spain to begin training at the Club Atleacute;tico Montemar. Butvilas met coach a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/ivan-navarro/n309/overview'Ivan Navarro/a, who has been travelling with the Lithuanian for roughly two years./p
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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./p
pimg alt="a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/edas-butvilas/b0mm/overview'Edas Butvilas/a wins his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Charleston, South Carolina." style="width:100%;" src="/-/media/images/news/2024/09/30/16/59/butvilas-charlestonch-2024.jpg" /br /emsupa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/edas-butvilas/b0mm/overview'Edas Butvilas/a triumphs at the Challenger 75 event in Charleston. Credit: a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/archive/charleston/2803/2024/results'LTP Challenger/a/sup/em/p
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Butvilas, now at a career-high World No. 261 in the PIF ATP Rankings, became the first lucky loser Challenger champion since February 2023./p
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ldquo;It is still tough to believe it because I was so close to being out of the tournament,rdquo; Butvilas said. ldquo;I lost in qualies and I got the lucky-loser spot and then everything went my way. /p
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ldquo;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.rdquo;/p
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Still early in his career, Butvilas has already learned an important lesson: the tide will turn in your favour if you remain resilient./p
p
ldquo;I lost many close matches this year. My coach always told me that tennis can change really fast at any point,rdquo; Butvilas said. ldquo;I just was thinking, lsquo;Why not this time?rsquo;rdquo;/ppstrongDid You Know?/strongbr /Butvilas is a two-time junior Slam doubles champion. He won the 2021 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a boys' doubles event alongside a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alejandro-manzanera-pertusa/m0l2/overview'Alejandro Manzanera Pertusa/a and the 2022 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/roland-garros/520/overview'Roland Garros/a boys' doubles title with a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/mili-poljicak/p0gq/overview'Mili Poljicak/a./p
p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p
