An interview with Ashley Weinhold

Ashley Weinhold. (c) Jonathan Kelley, On the Rise

It was my pleasure to talk to US player Ashley Weinhold after her doubles semifinal win at the Redding $25K last week. She and partner Caitlin Whoriskey went on to win their second consecutive doubles title the next day. Weinhold, a 26-year-old righty, is based in Austin, Texas. She's currently ranked #660 in singles (career high #181 in 2011) and #238 in doubles (career high #221 in 2012).

On the Rise: Talk a little about your career. A few years ago you were in the top 200, and you've dropped a bit since then. Can you talk us through what's been going on?

Weinhold: I've had some little nagging injuries here and there that have kept me out periodically. I didn't play a full schedule last year, so that didn't really enable me to have a super-high ranking. I'm trying to play a bigger schedule this year. I played a lot this summer. My ranking might not show for it, but I've won a lot of matches this year. So I feel good about that, and it's just a matter of kind of doing well on the weeks that I didn't previously do well, because I tend to do well at the same events so my ranking kind of stays in the same spot. So I need to work on a better schedule, maybe. Finding other events.

OTR: You played main draw singles here?

AW: Yes, I snuck in last minute. I was originally in qualies, and then the list moved a little bit and I was in main. Which was nice, and I wanted to take advantage of that, but I had a pretty tough first round against the #2 seed [Varatchaya Wongteanchai] ... it was 6&6 and it was 3 hours long for 2 sets. Just a matter of a couple of points. So that one hurts a little bit. But it's okay.

OTR: What do you do after a tough loss like that?

AW: I had to play doubles right after. So kind of clear your mind right away. I'm pretty good at taking notes and kind of moving on. You've got to have a short memory in tennis.

OTR: You're a really accomplished doubles player -- you've got I don't even know how many pro titles [13 after Redding, including her first $50K earlier this summer]. Is it ever a thought to you that you might want to try doubles full time or are you absolutely committed to singles?

AW: I'm very committed to singles. Everything I work on and try to improve on is based on singles. I do very little doubles work, it just comes naturally. It's nice to be able to play both, but my focus is on singles.

I've gotten stuck in a couple of situations and at the moment I'm stuck here playing a doubles final, and I'm trying to get to Albuquerque for singles. [Ed. note: She was able to make her first round qualies match in Albuquerque on Sunday. She fell 3&4 to top seed Amra Sadikovic, who ended up reached the semifinals.] So travel-wise, that's not really going to help my singles. I've had that trouble a few times.  It's a good problem to have but also I'd like to be in the main draw [in singles] so I wouldn't have to worry about it.

OTR: What is it about your game that transitions well to doubles? You don't see a lot of players your height [5'5"] serving and volleying. You're really active at net as well.

AW: Yeah. I mean, I'm low to the ground, so I'm pretty quick. Fast-twitch muscles. I'm, I guess, pretty athletic, so I like to have an all-around game in singles and it kind of just carries over to doubles. I'm comfortable at the net and that ends points quicker.

OTR: Looking back a few years, was college tennis a consideration for you?

AW: It was. I probably would have ended up at the University of Virginia.  I have some great friends there and I work with the coach here and there still. But at the time, I was #1 in the nation in singles and won our hard court nationals.  So I took the main draw wildcard into the U.S. Open and that kind of solidified my decision. I'd always been training and working for pro.

I think the college game now is a bit stronger now than when I graduated, so I think it's a great option now. Maybe more resources coming out, bigger tournaments, more opportunities for wildcards.  If I were to go back, I wouldn't change it. I was in a very good place at the time.

OTR: What's your schedule going to be like for the rest of the year?

AW: I don't know for sure. Going to Albuquerque next week. We'll see about Vegas and Kirkland ... where my ranking's at it's going to be a little tough in the fall. I'll be in qualies a lot. My plan is to stay in the States right now; we'll see if I have to go elsewhere.

Thanks very much to Ashley for the interview! And to her and Caitlin Whoriskey (who are into the Albuquerque doubles quarterfinals as the #2 seeds) for their post-title interview the following day. Watch it below:

Meet Alex Rybakov

You've been as high as 14th in the world in juniors but are only 7th seed at your national junior tournament.

You've reached the semis of one of the biggest junior tournaments in the world (Trofeo Bonfiglio), the quarters of another (the Orange Bowl), and the round of 16 of the biggest of them all (The Championships aka Wimbledon), but your name is rarely mentioned when they talk about The Bright Future Of American Tennis.

You have 11 main draw wins this year alone at the pro level, including a straight-set win over a Top 300 player - a European clay-courter on European clay. You've reached 2 pro semifinals and are one of the hottest college prospects in the country. In any other country, you'd be considered one of the best things going. But given whom you're surrounded by at this historical moment, it's almost like you're ... almost lost in the shuffle?

Alex Rybakov. (c) Jonathan Kelley

Ladies, gentlemen, everyone: let us now take a moment to appreciate Alex Rybakov.

A New Yorker of Russian heritage who now resides in Florida, Rybakov is a rare breed: a one-handed lefty who comes over the top of his backhands. Who do you model your game after, when that's your game? You take a little from a bunch of guys. Feliciano Lopez's serve. Tommy Robredo's movement and forehand. Philip Kohlschreiber's backhand. (Well, ideally Wawrinka's, but that may take time.) (Or, if you still have a black & white TV, fellow New Yorker John McEnroe.)

It also helps to have a guy with a one-hander as a coach, even if he's a righty. Diego Moyano, who works with a number of juniors via his position at USTA, found a special kinship with Rybakov when they started working together a few years ago.

"In Argentina, back in the day, we had a lot of one-handed players so it was pretty easy talking with him about that because we share the same feelings on that topic," said Moyano. "He's very easy to coach, a very good listener."

Here in Kalamazoo, at the USTA Boys 18s National Championships, Rybakov has had a great run to the quarterfinals as the #7 seed in what is the most accomplished field in tournament history. He started slow in the first round against Aron Pierce but won his first set in a tiebreak and won his next five sets dropping just four games total.  Today in the round of 16, he took on another extremely talented, under-appreciated, third-round-of-Wimbledon-reaching 18-year-old, USC incoming freshman Logan Smith and, in possibly the best 18s singles match of the day, survived 6-4 7-6(5), saving two set points on his serve in the last game of the second set before the tiebreak.

"He was playing better than me at the end of the second set," said Rybakov. "I was losing a bit of focus." But he stayed calm and got helped a bit on a sitter forehand that Smith dumped into the net on match point #2. It's always good to get help, at any level.

Next up for Rybakov is one of his best friends, French Open champion Tommy Paul. Paul is one of those guys who, due to his results (he's top 500 in the ATP as well as a junior slam champion), is getting some of that hype that's bypassing Rybakov. Paul is going pro, while Rybakov seems headed to college. Both he and Moyano admit that the "should I or shouldn't I" question has weighed on him this year, perhaps hurting his results ... including an ugly 2&0 loss to Corentin Dennolly in the second round of that same French Open.

So then Paul goes on to win that tournament you thought you could do pretty well at. And then you skip Wimbledon, which another of your peers, Reilly Opelka, wins. And another contemporary, Taylor Fritz, ascends to the #1 junior spot. And another is in the ATP Top 300. And another is in the ATP Top 150. And another reaches an ATP Challenger final. And another just a week ago wins his second Futures title in less than 12 months.

Your coach, for one, thinks college will be great for you. "Alex is a pretty serious guy, a good worker, he needs maybe a little more time to develop his game and body -- his mind is pretty mature for his age, but on the physicality and the tennis, I think college is going to be great." Specifically in terms of a his game, a guy who has tended to excel on clay will be playing more fast hardcourts, which, Moyano believes, will force him to be faster in his decision-making, and to shorten his strokes, which is the direction men's tennis seems to be headed.  "He'll be playing a ton of guys who serve really well and are really aggressive.  Plus the focus on doubles is going to help with his volleys - he has a good fundamentals of the volley, needs to keep working on that - and will help his serve, first ball, return. It's going to be good."

Despite a rough couple of months, Moyano thinks Rybakov has improved a ton this year. "He's doing an amazing job in terms of listening and of improving his whole game; changing his serve and getting better on serve; getting a massive forehand and start dictating every point from the forehand. Mobility, his defense, slice, backhand, return. Every area of his game he's improving a lot."

So what's it like being such a good player surrounded by so many really good players?

"I like to think of myself as one of them," said Rybakov. "I train with them - of course, they're all unbelievable players but you have to have confidence in yourself and if you don't believe in yourself to win -- if you don't step on the court thinking you're going to win every match, then you're not going to get very far."

"When you have 6-7 great players, winning grand slams and getting to finals of challengers - yeah he gets a little lost," according to Moyano.  "People don't talk a lot about him but as a tennis player he's doing great. I think they're the same level, all the guys."

"Everyone has to have their own team around them, helping them .... become the best player they can. I think I have a good team around me right now. Tennis is an individual sport. Obviously, With their success, you look all around and "wow, so good." abut at the end of the day, you have to look at yourself and see what's best for yourself and just focus on that. So as much as their results motivate me and help me do better, I'm trying to do my best on focusing on myself and don't what's best for me."

It's also notable that all these guys are from different walks of life, with many, like Rybakov, coming from immigrant families.  "Having the diversity has been great," he says. "We try to push ourselves to do the best we can. As much as I respect them as players, they're all unbelievable people and I love spending time with every single one of them."

So there you are: Alex Rybakov. He's a great player, and he's in great company.

An interview with Sekou Bangoura

Sekou Bangoura today reached his first career challenger quarterfinal, beating Jared Donaldson 6-4 6-2 in Binghamton. A couple of weeks ago in Winnetka, I talked with the 23-year-old about where he's at in his career, his new coach, and how it felt playing doubles with Frank Dancevic. The interview took place immediately following their quarterfinal win over Erik Crepaldi and Henrique Cunha. Bangoura lost in the first round of qualies to Farris Gosea, 5-7 6-4 3-6.

Sekou Bangoura, (c) Jonathan Kelley, On the Rise (a tennis blog)

Feels good to still be in the tournament? 
Yes sir, definitely.

I know your singles result wasn't what you wanted; how are you feeling about your singles game? 
Feeling a little bit better. Let's see, this is my fifth week on the road. I'm traveling with a new coach - Murphy Payne from Atlanta - so he's helping me a lot. I've just been out here practicing hard. Like you said, I didn't have the greatest result, but came back the next day and put in some work, so I'm still feeling pretty good about it.

Do you have any rankings goal for this year, or are you trying to focus more on the process? 
Just on the process right now, trying to get to that point, winning 2-3 matches consecutively; getting the confidence to hit through balls, and getting in those pressure situations and being able to pull through. So that's what I'm focusing on right now. Obviously running deep into tournaments is the goal but you know, Murphy told me you've got to take it step by step so that's what I'm trying to do.

What's it like playing with Frank?  
It's awesome. It's awesome.  He plays at such a high level, so I feel like I have to step my game up, and at the same time I'm learning from him, too. It's just fun. It's a lot of fun. [N.B. They reached the final, losing 6-4 3-6 [8-10] to Nicholas Monroe and Johan Brunstrom.]

Seems you tend to play up a lot in tournaments - you try to play a lot of qualies rather than just go through Futures. Why is that?  
I mean, I've played my fair share of Futures. But we figured that this was the time to try and get into the challengers, try and get used to this level, seeing these guys week-in and week-out. Futures are going to always be there. It's easy to go back and find a Futures in the US - there's a lot of them, so right now trying to play some Challengers, try to get some momentum, and get used to the bigger matches.

What would you say is the biggest improvement to your game since college [at the University of Florida]?  
Since college? Right now, my serve's looking good. Winning a lot more free points on my serve. Still got the base game - a lot of consistency. But I'm definitely hitting the ball a lot bigger, a lot heavier, than in college. And right now, I'm working on trying to develop some weapons, just make that push.

How's your fitness? 
Pretty good, pretty good. Haven't felt exhausted after any of my matches. I don't think that's really a problem, but I can always improve on that, too. Right now, just trying to work on the tennis game and when that gets where I want it to be, then I can work on the fitness a little more.

What's next for you after Winnetka?
Week off after this tournament, then I'll go to Binghamton & Lexington.

Challenger Doubles: a talk with three specialists

The adage that tennis is an "individual sport" should probably be retired. After all, despite the relative deficit in television coverage, doubles is an integral part of tennis at every level: recreational, junior, college, pro. Doubles is essential to Cups Davis, Fed, and Hopman; to World Team Tennis and IPTL; to wheelchair tennis, legends tennis, Olympic tennis. Doubles is there at the Futures level and at the majors.

And at the challengers.

The doubles competition at last week's Winnetka Challenger (where television is never the biggest factor) were generally well attended, fast-paced, and seemingly enjoyable for all concerned. There was no doubt from the first ball that this was extremely high-level tennis. All the players have all the strokes -- the serves, returns, groundstrokes, defense, and of course volleys. And particularly for the doubles specialists involved, the intensity and desire to win is just as strong as for the singles players. These points will help as they try to build, rebuild, or maintain their rankings to allow them to play ATP tournaments and the majors.

I spoke with three such specialists about their lives and careers: Matt Seeberger (who, with Julio Peralta, lost in the 2nd round to Mackenzie McDonald and Nicolas Meister), and eventual champions Johan Brunström and Nicholas Monroe, who were the top seeds.  An interesting commonality of all three guys is that they all played college tennis (in the US). This isn't unusual: 11 of the Top 50 players played in college, including 5 of the 7 Americans in that range (Jack Sock and Sam Querrey are the only exceptions).

Matt Seeberger at the
Winnetka Challenger

Matt Seeberger (USA)
Age: 30
College: University of California - Santa Barbara
Post-Winnetka ranking: 200 (started the year at #402)
Career-high ranking: 200

Seeberger took an indirect route to where he is now. He's one of the few pros who attended a Division III college (go Banana Slugs!) and didn't think he'd play competitively after college. He coached for 7 years but then got the competitive itch and started up in 2013. He was having more success in doubles and, given his age and the fact that he enjoyed doubles more, decided to give it a "full shot." He finished that year ranked #1272 in doubles. In 2014 he won 4 Futures titles (2 with Peralta) and ended up at #458. This year he's won 5 titles (with 5 different partners) and is at a career high.

This week he and Peralta reached their second Challenger final, in Poznan, Poland. They fell 6-3 3-6  10-6 to top seeds Mikhail Elgin and Mateusz Kowalczyk.

Q: What does 200 in the rankings mean for you in terms of getting into tournaments?
A: I have to get to about 100 to play Wimbledon qualies, 75 to get direct entry into a major, and about 100 to play in some ATP events.  So right now I'm in the middle of the challenger swing. So if I can do well in challengers over the next year, then I'll be able to make the next jump.

Q: Tell me about your match today (a first round 4-6 7-6(5) 10-8 win over Dimitar Kutrovsky and Dean O'Brien). You lost the first set. How did you turn it around?
A: We did lose the first set, but it was incredibly close. We had 4 or 5 deuces that didn't go our way. We knew that if just kept hanging in there, we might be able to get a break, and we got pretty lucky in the second set tiebreaker and the superbreaker was just a coin flip, and we tried to play well and focus.

Q: Lucky how so?
A: Connecting on the right balls. Doubles is just one or two shots at the end, and everybody can make them, and it just depends on the day, who's going to make it.

Q: Talk to me about Julio Peralta. He's got a pretty big fan club on Twitter, at least. What does he do well, and are you going to keep playing with him?
A: Julio is incredibly smooth and technically sound, hits the ball incredible off both sides, reads the court really well. We plan to play at least the rest of this year together. We're good friends, we live close to each other in California, and really enjoy playing with each other.

Q: Anything to say to young players considering Division III colleges?
A: I say, pick a college based on the coach first and foremost, assuming the academics fit. And then if you like the coach and you can start, that's even better. There are plenty of Division I programs that are incredible with wonderful coaches, and there are plenty of terrible Division III programs. So I think it's really: can you connect with the coach and connect with the school, more than anything, besides divisions.

Nicholas Monroe,
(c) ATPWorldTour.com

Nicholas Monroe (USA)
Age: 33
College: University of North Carolina
Post-Winnetka ranking: 64 (started the year at #65)
Career-high ranking: 51

Born in Oklahoma City, Nick Monroe is an Austin resident who had decent success as a singles player, winning 11 Futures titles and reaching a career-high ranking of #253. Monroe has won 2 ATP doubles titles: 2013 Båstad (with Simon Stadler) and 2014 Båstad (with Johan Brunström). This week he's into the semifinal of Newport with Mate Pavic.  I spoke with him after his and Brunström's first round win over Jason Jung and Connor Smith.

Q: You just got back from Wimbledon. Tell me about that tournament for you.
A: I played with Artem Sitak. We won our first round 10-8 in the fifth set, and then we lost second round on Saturday against Murray/Peers 6-4 in the fifth. They're now in the semifinals [which they won, but lost in the final]. So we had some chances there.

Q: How would you rate your year so far?
A: It's been going okay. The beginning of the year was a bit slow but you keep working hard and hopefully things turn your way.

Q: Do you have any rankings goals for the year?
A: At the end of the year I'd like to be Top 40.

Q: For people who don't get a chance to watch a lot of doubles, what do you think the best things about doubles on the ATP Tour are?
A: It's fun; we enjoy it.  Obviously being on a team is great. As far as doubles is concerned, we travel every week and to be able to travel with a doubles partner and enjoy it out there together is always fun. And you get to play the best guys in the world -- that's what you dream of. And also playing these ATP events and Wimbledon, things like that, you continue to work hard and hopefully the dreams can happen.

Q: What tournaments will you be playing after this?
A: Newport, US Open Series, US Open.

Q: Where are you among Americans in the doubles rankings?
A: Well the Bryans are 1 and 2 obviously, and then Scott Lipsky, Eric Butorac, Rajeev Ram, and then I think myself. So maybe 5 or 6, something like that.

Q: And Jack Sock.
A: Well, Jack, yeah. I forget about Jack. [Note: Sam Querrey is #46. We both forgot about Sam.]

Q: I noticed you play a lot of singles, particularly in qualies. Why is that?
A: I don't play as much as I used to -- I played 8 years on tour in singles and the last couple of years I've been focusing on doubles. Obviously singles is great for the game; in doubles people say you cover half the court but that's not really true. It's an athletic game. You've got to be an athlete. Singles obviously you cover more of the court, and it's good for the game. So I try to play as much singles as I can to help my doubles. It helps the return game as well.

Johan Brunström

Johan Brunström (SWE)
Age: 34
College: Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX)
Post-Winnetka ranking: 102 (down from #77 after 2014 Båstad points dropped off)
Career-high ranking: 31 (2010)

Despite a heavily wrapped knee -- due to an injury suffered running sprints with (against?) his brother,  Jesper, a 28-year-old who is also a pro -- Johan Brunström played stellar doubles all week. Johan has won 5 ATP titles in his career, starting at the 2010 Gstaad tournament with Jarkko Nieminen. I spoke with Brunström after his and Monroe's semifinal win over McDonald and Meister.

Q: Congratulations, if I'm not mistaken is this your first final of the year?
A: That's right, first final of the year, so it's good to get at least 3 matches in a row, gonna be 4 matches in a row. So that's kind of what I've been looking for here; get a few matches put together and build from that.

Q: And are you going to be playing the summer ATP tournaments or challengers?
A: I'm playing Newport next week [he and Marcelo Demoliner lost 6-3 3-6 10-6 to ... Pavic and Monroe! ... in the quarterfinals] and then I go back to Båstad, to Sweden, to play the Swedish Open. And then I'm going to play Gstaad, the ATP in Switzerland, and then we're having a baby right in that time, our first baby, so I'll be home for a few weeks and then hope to be back for the U.S. Open.

Q: I notice that a lot of Swedes go to Ole Miss, pretty recently & historically. How did you choose SMU?
A: Well we actually had pretty good Swedish connections there. When I came over it was one Swedish guy playing there and was just one Swedish guy who had graduated that I knew from before. So they talked to me and so that's kind of how I found out about it.

Q: You had a tough loss in the first round of Wimbledon qualies.  What's it like playing the qualies of a major, because it really doesn't happen very often, right? Either you're in or you're out.
A: Yeah exactly. That's how I started, basically, was in the qualies of Wimbledon in 2007 maybe. [Note: it was 2008; he and Adam Feeney were lucky losers who advanced to the 2nd round.] And then got into the main draw there, and since then been playing the main draw, and then this year I was right outside the cut, and obviously [Frank Moser and I] had that heartbreaker, 13-11 -- we had match points, and ... yeah. We got broken one time in the match: 11-11 in the 3rd. So it was just comes down ... even moreso on the grass, in the doubles. All the teams are competitive, and you've just got to take your chances when you get them.

Q: What was the deciding factors in your decision to become a doubles guy?
A: Well, I played both.  You know, it was actually my singles that got me into the challengers level. And then in my first 4 challengers I think I won 3 of them in the doubles, so and then got a wildcard into Stockholm Open, won a round, and so the doubles just took off, and I had to make the choice of playing the bigger tournaments in doubles, or keep playing the smaller ones in singles. And so I made the decision to schedule around the doubles, and was hoping to play the qualies of singles still, but it didn't work out that well. I was doing well in doubles, missed the qualies, and you get out of that rhythm, and it didn't take long before the singles dropped.

Q: Big lefty serve; good volleys -- do you feel like your game might have worked better back in the day, in terms of singles? Like back in the 80s?
A: Yeah. I think so. It's not a lot of serve/volley guys out there. Whenever I get the chance to play singles (I don't do much, my body's not what it's been), I serve/volley first and second serve, I chip and charge and come in. It's tough to do on the slower surfaces, but a few tournaments here and there there's some fast conditions where it works out.

Q: Pretty fast here?
A: Yeah, the ball goes through nicely, so it's good for the lefty serve with the slice into the body, slice away from the body and then you can have your partner position around that. So I like it.

Q: Nick was a devil out there in that first set. He was just everywhere, getting every ball, everything was going in. It's nice when your partner is helping you out like that.
A: Yeah absolutely. Yeah, he was very aggressive, he went for the balls. As soon as I got a return in he was all over the show there. We got off to that very aggressive start, and that helps.  They didn't really know what to do with the volleys -- up the line, or cross. We kind of got into their heads and in the end, it felt like they were trying to go for too much, and that's where you want them. You want them to try to take your head off.

Q: Mikael Ymer just made the final of the Wimbledon Boys tounament.  Have you followed his and his brother's careers much? And what are your thoughts about the immediate future of Swedish tennis on the men's side?
A: It's looking more promising now for sure. We've known for a long time that they're very promising, both Elias & Mikael. But it's a big step to go from being promising junior to make it on the senior tour. And Elias is start making that move right now, which is very good to see. He qualified for all 3 of the slams, which is unheard of -- maybe Mike Russell did it once -- and he got some good wins also on the ATP tour.

And Mikael, in the Swedish Futures earlier in the year, getting some good results. I think it's just building confidence from there. And obviously now with the Wimbledon final, he gets a lot of positive recognition, and that's great too. I think he probably grew as a player just by being in that atmosphere and being around the whole big scene. I think it looks good now -- much better than it was been.

Q: Swedish men have been kind of dominating the coaching ranks pretty recently. Is that something you've thought about after you're done playing?
A: Well, not really. Well, I love tennis, obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be playing this late and with the injuries and stuff. But I also have my Bachelor's in marketing, also have my Master's from the University of Phoenix in marketing -- I was done last year. I have a pretty solid ground to stand on, maybe want to combine marketing with tennis or sports. That's at least the plan for now. Maybe later, you never know.  Obviously you still love the sport, and if opportunity comes up and I'm interested ... it could happen.

Q: Speaking of that, there are a lot of people from other countries coming over to play college tennis here. To what extent do the degrees transfer back to Europe?
A: I think it's started getting better than it's been. It hasn't had the same ... standing? ... as Swedish universities. But it's impossible to stay at home and combine college studies and your sport. And I think they've started recognizing that, and there are more merits to go through US colleges now than before. I'm not exactly sure how it translates, but I hope it translates decent [laughs].

Jason Jung discusses his journey from USA to TPE

It was just a few weeks ago, I was looking at the ATP profile of one of my favorite tennis players, Jason Jung - a player having a career year, a player who had recently made his Top 200 debut, a player who worked hard to maximize his talent, a player about whom I wrote one of my first narrative blog posts. And I saw this:

Wait, what?? pic.twitter.com/jHtPDZTkDZ

— Jonathan Kelley (@jokelley_tennis) June 9, 2015

Soon thereafter, the Taiwanese flag also appeared next to his name on the ATP rankings, and (TPE) accompanied him on the draws and it was official: Jung had transferred his affiliation from the United States to Taiwan.

As a fan of American tennis, I was (and am) saddened, although I remain a big fan of his. As far as I could ever determine, Jung was a great ambassador for this country on and off the court. So I vowed to learn why. I kept checking his excellent blog, but he didn't write about it. So when he popped up at the Winnetka Challenger last week, I decided to go ahead and ask him about it, and several other topics including his initial foray into Grand Slam qualifying and, like I did in the interview with his University of Michigan co-alum and erstwhile doubles partner Evan King, his reaction to last year's Grantland article that brought him to the attention of so many of us.

I hope you enjoy it!



One question that went unasked was what, if anything, the USTA could or should have done differently to keep Jung in the fold. So I'll open that up to you: given the large numbers of players who are first- or second-generation Americans, does our national association need to up its retention game? It's easy for a lower-tier player like Jung to fall through the cracks (same can be said for Alexa Guarachi, who around the same time began representing Chile).

Perhaps nothing the USTA could have done would have changed Jung's journey - after all, there are only so many Davis Cup spots to go around and it's unlikely that the 26-year-old would have vaulted ahead of the several more accomplished players ahead of him in the queue. But I am curious to hear if others feel it's even worth an effort.

Devvarman at 30: on his career, Indian tennis, and being a student of the game

Somdev Devvarman, back-to-back NCAA singles champion in 2007 and 2008 and the #1 Indian ATP player for most of the past several years since turning pro, is having an excellent run at the Winnetka Challenger - making his first semifinal since the New Delhi Challenger in February. Following his quarterfinal win, Devvarman talked a bit about turning 30 (which he did a few days before the New Delhi tournament), the future of Indian men in tennis, and whether he would coach a player to play his style of ball.
 

My visit with Harry

Yesterday, Ryan Harrison beat Canada's Frank Dancevic in a tense three-set encounter at the Winnetka Challenger, and then took some time to talk about the match. He also talked a bit about the work he's been doing with a sports psychologist, his 2012 Olympics experience at Wimbledon (in which he was frankly brutalized in an interview with Pat O'Brien), and where he feels his tennis game and frame of mind are. Because he's such a thoughtful and articulate guy, I thought I'd go ahead and post the entire audio.

As for the match, it was generally very high quality, with Dancevic coming up with impressive serves, volleys, and groundstrokes in big moments throughout. Unfortunately for him, he had a couple of crucial mistakes - including a double fault on the first break point he faced, which cost him the second set - and Harrison stayed mentally tough enough to win it.

If you haven't yet done so, I encourage you to watch the entire match, which I've posted below.
 

Return the mighty King

It was an unusual choice. Chicago native Evan King, who had taken several months off from the pro tour, chose four Futures tournaments in Southern Africa to make his comeback. First was a tournament in Maputo, Mozambique, where he made the second round in singles and won doubles with Anderson Reed. Things really took off for him in Harare, Zimbabwe, where he won his first career singles title, then reached a semifinal and final. Along the way he picked up a second doubles title with Reed and reached a third doubles final. All in all, a very successful trip.

First week back on tour and ended up with a doubles title with @andersonreed1 in Mozambique #TrophyIsWayTooBig #NotGoingToFitInMySuitcase #GottaBuyAnotherBag #DontAskAboutSingles #TheReturn #imGettingPrettyDarkDownHere

A photo posted by Evan King (@evankingchicago) on Jun 12, 2015 at 7:43am PDT

Evan returned to the US on Sunday, and on Tuesday took a few minutes before watching his friend Jason Jung play his friend Dennis Nevolo in the first round of the Winnetka Challenger. Enjoy his discussion of the African Futures events, his time as an assistant at the University of Michigan, and the 2014 Grantland article that brought him, Jung, and the Futures circuit significant attention.

Ryan Haviland loving his return to tennis at age 34

Following Sunday's first two rounds of qualifying at the Nielsen Pro Tennis Championship, I had the pleasure of talking to Ryan Haviland, a 34-year-old touring pro who is making a comeback to the pro circuit after taking 11 years off due to injury. Haviland, a former top junior and college player, had 8 knee surgeries and an elbow surgery over a six-year period. In that time, he got into coaching and now runs his own tennis center, Haviland Tennis Academy in Greenville, SC.

Ryan Haviland,
(c) Jonathan Kelley, On the Rise

Since coming back he's run into some tough draws at the Futures level - playing up-and-coming teens like Ernesto Escobedo, Michael Mmoh and Stefan Kozlov. But still he's made a quarterfinal and semifinal in the past couple of months, and has broken into the Top 1000.

Here in Winnetka, his first go at a Challenger since a brief comeback attempt in 2008, Haviland won his first two qualifying matches (against #3 seed Matt Reid and USC's big-hitting Eric Johnson), after which he was kind enough to hang out and talk about all sorts of things - his time off, coming back, age and tennis, the Futures circuit, and much more. Rather than transcribe the interview, I'm experimenting with posting audio of the whole thing. Forgive my dumb-ass questions, and enjoy Haviland's fascinating perspective.

For the record, Haviland lost his final qualifying match against Andrew Whittington yesterday (You can watch the match here to see his playing style, although clearly he wasn't at his best). That meant 3 matches, 2 wins, no points, and no money.  Still, it was great to talk to a guy with a real passion for his sport, out there enjoying his second chance. I hope you enjoy it.

(I'm so embarrassed about the end when discussing Stanford Men's Tennis - I mentioned Martin Joyce but was thinking of Tom Fawcett. It had been a looooooong day. But yeah, really bad. Sorry, Martin. Sorry, Tom.)

Homewood product trying to make it on the pro circuit

On the first day of qualies at the 2015 Winnetka Challenger, I encountered in the draw a name I hadn't seen before: Bradley Holt. I did a bit of digging, and found that he was from the middle-class Chicago suburb of Homewood, Illinois, and had played for the Western Illinois University men's tennis team - a lower-level Division I program in the town of Macomb. The Leathernecks play in the Summit League conference, which produces relatively few pro players compared to some of the higher-level conferences.

Holt played big-hitting Tom Jomby, a flamboyant Frenchman who plays for the University of Kentucky, in the first round of qualies. UK is in the much more prominent SEC conference, and Jomby was able to come through 6-1 6-4. I caught some of the second set and then asked Holt to sit down and discuss his life as a newbie on the pro circuit.

Bradley Holt. (c) Jonathan Kelley, On the Rise

First, can you introduce yourself?
My name is Bradley Holt, I'm from Homewood, IL. Robert Gates is my coach, and I've just been playing a lot of futures and lower-level events.

You're a former college player, is that correct?
Yes, I played for Western Illinois for about a year and a half, just taking off, just playing tournaments, training.

So tell me about your day today. Is this your first challenger event?
Yes, it's my first challenger event. Match was all right. I played a pretty good player - big server, big forehand, so he keeps you on the move a lot. Hard to get a rhythm, but not a bad match, overall.

What other tournaments are you looking to play this summer?
There are four Futures events all over Illinois - I'm playing all of them. The first one, Godfrey, I'm training for that one.

I notice you have a doubles ranking.
Yes, I do. I got one like a month ago in Arkansas [at the Little Rock Futures in May]. With my partner Jordan Parker. Pretty happy about that.

Tell me when you realized you got your first point, what was the feeling?
Once I found out I got it, I just dropped my bag. I was just ecstatic, was just so happy I finally got it. Because I was working at it for such a long time - once I finally got it, it was such a great feeling. And also it gave me a lot of confidence too, going forward

I also noticed that you had a win over Jason Jung, Top 200 guy.
Yep, me and my partner, Jordan, we played them [Jung and Chad Rhoden] in the quarters. We went up on them pretty big in the first set, and we were just like "we can do this." So we just kept our heads on and we got the win.

Tell me about growing up in the Chicagoland area for tennis. Did you play juniors around here?
Yes I did. I played all the midwest tournaments - Midwest Closed and Midwest Open.

When you decided to go to Western Illinois, what were the factors in your decision?
When I visited there - there were a few other schools I looked at. I looked at Illinois State, Western Michigan. I really liked the team camaraderie at Western Illinois - everyone seemed very close - the coach seemed pretty good. And also he offered me a lot of money, which helps.

Are you doing anything to supplement your income as you try to make it on the pro tour?
Yes, obviously it's very expensive - I don't come from parents who have the most money so I do a lot of coaching on the side, just teach a lot. So that definitely helps out with the traveling and everything.

Tom Jomby and Bradley Holt.
(c) Jonathan Kelley, On the Rise

What would you say the strengths of your game are? I notice you have a big first serve.
Yeah, probably my serve and my backhand are the two biggest things, and just being very steady, keeping a lot of balls in play, and then using my backhand and serve.

Are you looking at all to possibly travel for futures overseas at all?
Yes, depending on how I do this summer, if I get some points, next year I do plan on maybe going to South America, playing some Futures out there.

Clay court?
Yeah, clay court.

What's your experience on clay?
I don't really play too much on clay. Where I work actually is on clay. I like it a lot, though. Slow ball. It's good for my game - I'm a steadier player, so I actually like clay a lot. I look forward to it, for sure.