The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Men’s Tennis signs transfer Gabriel Debru
06.03.2026 | Men's Tennis
A transfer from Illinois, Debru is a 2026 ITA All-American in singles, an All-Big Ten First Team and Big Ten All-Freshman Team honoree, a former Juniors World No. 1, and the 2022 Roland Garros Junior Singles Champion.
Austin, Texas – Texas Men's Tennis has signed transfer Gabriel Debru (GAH-bree-ell DUH-brew) to an Athletic Scholarship Agreement (ASA), head coach Bruce Berque announced Wednesday.
A transfer from Illinois, Debru is a 2026 ITA All-American in singles, an All-Big Ten First Team and Big Ten All-Freshman Team honoree, a former Juniors World No. 1, and the 2022 Roland Garros Junior Singles Champion. He was also the doubles runner-up at Wimbledon Juniors that year.
A native of Grenoble, France, Debru has career-high ATP rankings of No. 233 in singles in March 2025 and No. 273 in doubles in November 2024. He has a combined eight pro titles with five in singles, two of which were in ATP Challengers, and three in doubles with one of those in a Challenger.
"We are thrilled that Gabriel will be joining our team for the upcoming season," Berque said. "He is obviously a highly accomplished player, and we expect him to make a major impact on our lineup in both singles and doubles. From all our conversations and meetings with him, it also has become very clear that Gabriel will be a great addition to our culture."
"I'm very happy to join the team at Texas," Debru said. "It's an incredible school, and it's a tennis program that has played at the highest levels. You can tell the guys are really connected, and I'm excited to start training and improving alongside them. I think my personality will fit in well with them, and I hope I can help them continue their success on the court."
Debru produced a 15-6 overall singles record as a freshman with the Illini, including a 14-5 mark in dual matches, playing at both No. 1 (6-2) and No. 2 (7-3). He closed the season on an eight-match winning streak and with a No. 18 ITA singles ranking. During the season, he registered top-15 straight-sets wins over No. 9 Duncan Chan of TCU, No. 12 Aidan Kim of Ohio State and No. 13 Devin Badenhorst of Baylor.
In doubles, he opened his career at No. 2 in the 2025 preseason rankings but did not play in the fall. In the spring, he posted a 13-11 overall record, including 12-10 in dual matches, mostly at No. 1 (8-6) and No. 2 (3-3).
Debru has earned three wild-card entries into singles qualifying at Roland-Garros in 2022, 2023, and 2024, winning his debut match in 2022 against Arthur Fils to advance to the second round.
Debru's two ATP Challenger titles both came in 2024 with the first being a Challenger 50 in Troyes, France, in July. At the age of 18 years and six months, it made him youngest French player to win a Challenger title since 2017. He went on to win a Challenger 75 in Como, Italy, making him the third-youngest French player to win multiple Challengers since 1978, joining former top-10 players Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils. In October of 2024, Debru then won his first doubles Challenger title in Saint-Brieuc, France, partnering with Geoffrey Blancaneaux for the victory in the Challenger 75. In addition to those, he reached his first singles final in the Prague Challenger 50 in 2023.
His other pro singles titles have come in M25s in Heraklion, Greece, and Uriage, France, in 2022, along with an M15 in Gubbio, Italy, in 2023. Meanwhile, his other doubles titles were both M15s in Antalya, Turkey, and his hometown of Grenoble in 2023.
In his juniors career, Debru's 2022 Roland Garros singles championship came against former Longhorn Gilles-Arnaud Bailly in the final. He had also played in the round of 32 at Wimbledon and the round of 64 at the Australian Open that year. He advanced to the round of 16 at Roland Garros the year before.
He reached the Wimbledon doubles final with Paul Inchauspé in 2022, where he faced former Longhorn Sebastian Gorzny, along with Alex Michelsen. Debru also advanced to the Australian Open semifinals, and the Roland Garros round of 32 in 2022, and made it to the Roland Garros round of 32 in 2021.
His other juniors singles titles all came in 2021 in J1s in Sanxenxo, Spain, and Charleroi-Marcinelle, Belgium, a J2 in Rakovnik, Czechia, and a J4 in Budapest, Hungary, where he also won the doubles championship.
