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.

The end of a dream week in Winnetka

The gentleman was asking the tennis player - a complete stranger - over to his house for dinner, and it wasn't weird at all.

It happens more often than you'd think, is what Daniel Nguyen's coach, Anthony Nguyen (no relation), told me. Vietnamese immigrants who have a sense of kinship, who have such immense pride in their generation-removed paisan, watching him be the first of his lineage to succeed at this level of tennis.

That's how it can be at these challengers, I suppose. Easy interaction with fans. World-class-level tennis brought down to a very local level.  Guys who just played a week ago on the Wimbledon courts now three feet in front of you. Passing Jason Jung walking with his "host family" on the sidewalk on my way from the train. It's all something of a dream.

Daniel Nguyen
(c) Jonathan Kelley, On the Rise

Nguyen has had a dream week here, to be sure. He reached his first challenger semifinal on Thursday and then yesterday, on a gorgeous Midwest afternoon, reached his first final by beating Adrien Bossel 6-2 6-4. It was looking like a rout through 12 games, with Nguyen having dropped just a point on his serve in the first set and the Swiss struggling mightily (he gifted three double faults in the first game of the match). But from 2-6 0*-4 down, the player who upset Austin Krajicek in the first round finally showed up. And just like that, Nguyen was serving up 4*-3.

"I got a little nervous, but he took advantage of that," said Nguyen.  "Just hit some great shots - winner after winner - and I couldn't do anything about it. But I just tried to control my composure and the things I could control, and just kept sticking with it, and told myself 'Okay, just gotta keep focusing on myself.'"

And he did. He secured a tough hold, and then with new balls, Bossel held in like 5 seconds. Then the changeover. Then came the biggest game of Nguyen's pro career. And - perhaps aided by his great success in huge moments playing college tennis (he twice clinched the national championship for the University of Southern California) - he said he wasn't really nervous. How did he manage that?

"Sort of just control your thoughts & harness your positive thoughts. Say, 'Okay, I can do this, I can do this.' Those negative thoughts are always going to creep into the match. Just being able to manage them and really just overpower them with positive thoughts."

He managed them. Got to 40-0. And then this happened:

Ladies, gentlemen, everyone: Top 200 @DanielNguyen_! pic.twitter.com/HyubPnGK2M

— Jonathan Kelley (@jokelley_tennis) July 10, 2015

As for his breakthrough success as a Vietnamese-American, "It's pretty cool.  Just try to represent my heritage, it's always nice, and hopefully I can try to [transmit] that to the younger generation - the young Asian, Vietnamese players, motivate them to do well. But it's definitely exciting."

So now it's on the the final against Somdev Devvarman, who played a relentless, smart, quality night match to beat Ryan Harrison 6-0 6-4. Harrison came out admittedly flat, but willed himself to stay in the match even down a set and a break. Despite not reaching break point all match against Devvarman, he just tried to put himself in a position so that, if any window did open even a crack, he'd be able to jump through it.  And it almost happened.

With Devvarman serving at 5*-4, Harrison got it to 15-30. The nice-sized college crowd, who had been somewhat demure from the start, tried to pump Harrison up enough to get the match even. But two successive line-clippers (or were they? Without electronic review, it was left to a couple of lines people and a hesitant-to-overrule chair umpire to decide) got it to 40-30.  A missed Harrison backhand on the next point, and Devvarman is your second 2015 finalist.

"It starts with his ability to hit passing shots really well," said Harrison about what makes Devvarman such a tough opponent, despite not having the biggest weapons on tour. "You feel like you can't just come in on anything. He gives you some balls that are kind of up, in the middle of the court, not quite high enough or short enough for you to hit outright winners off of, but you feel like you can come in behind it. But if you don't come in behind something good, he's got really good speed, good passing shots."

Unfortunately, I'll miss tonight's final - a dream final, for those of us who like college tennis (Devvarman went to the University of Virginia), for those who like American tennis, for those who like their tennis stories to be a bit outside the mainstream.  But I have other, "real life" obligations. So for now, I'm snapped out of my dream world in which it was nothing to chat up some of my favorite players about their lives and careers. Until next year, Winnetka!

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.
 

Daniel Nguyen reaches first Challenger semifinal in Winnetka

They say the serve and volley is a thing of the past, but twice on Thursday in Winnetka, Ill., the maneuver helped make the difference in two big matches on the smaller circuit.

Daniel Nguyen and Mitchell Krueger, (c) Jonathan Kelley,
On the Rise

In a quarterfinal match at the Nielsen Pro Tennis Championship, an ATP Challenger Tour event, 24-year-old Californian Daniel Nguyen took on 21-year-old Texan Mitchell Krueger. Both men had had great results on the ITF Futures tour, but neither had reached a Challenger semifinal. It was a truly massive moment in the young pro careers of both players.

After winning the first set (something he'd failed to do in his first two matches this week), Nguyen secured a break midway through the second set and then held on to serve for the match at 5*-4. After a long 30-15 point, Krueger hit a forehand down the line in to the net to give Nguyen two match points. Nguyen, who (understatement alert) is not the biggest guy in tennis, hit a serve out wide and then rushed the net to hit a crosscourt volley. When Krueger's lob went long, Nguyen found himself in the metaphorical winner's circle, 6-4 6-4. 

It was, in fact, Nguyen's second serve and volley of the game - on his first point, he hit a great pick-up half-volley that helped get him the crucial 15-0 lead. When asked why he decided to go with that tactic, Nguyen said, "I don't know. I enjoy doubles. I know that Mitch is pretty solid off the ground. I tried to mix in something new and it worked - both of them."

The win will bring Nguyen's ranking to just outside the Top 200, and present a big opportunity against lanky Swiss lefty Adrian Bossel, a more frequent practitioner of the serve and volley. Bossel defeated Jared Hiltzik, the rising University of Illinois senior from very-nearby Wilmette, 6-3 5-7 6-4. Both Nguyen and Bossel are unseeded.

Asked if this was the biggest win of his life, Nguyen replied "I think it's up there. I'm playing some great tennis out there. Just feel like - getting more comfortable on the tennis court, really just relaxing out there, and I'm really enjoying the grind."

In the first match of the day, #7 seed Somdev Devvarman out-steadied qualifier Nicolas Meister 7-6(4) 4-6 6-2. While the Challenger tournament doesn't track winners or errors, many of the points ended with the ball landing outside the lines or into the net.  When asked about the unforced errors, Devvarman replied, "I wouldn't say they were unforced at all - they were pretty forced. We were playing long points, physical points the whole match. It was a little bit cat-and-mouse in the first and second sets."

Somdev Devvarman, (c) Jonathan Kelley, On the Rise

Devvarman will face #5 seed Ryan Harrison in his semifinal this evening after Harrison earned his second consecutive brutal, grinding win, this one 7-6(3) 6-7(6) 6-1 over #3 seed Blaz Kavcic in a match that stretched nearly to midnight. There were dozens of highlight-reel points in that match (especially if your idea of highlights involves epically long rallies featuring fantastic defense) but one point in particular stood out.

Ryan Harrison in low-res.
(c) Jonathan Kelley, On the Rise

The point came in the third game of the third set. Harrison had just secured the break to go up 2*-0. It was a bit of a deja-vu moment of the Louisianan, who after winning the first set tiebreak, played an outstanding game to go up 1*-0. Back in that set, Harrison struggled getting first serves in, and went down 15*-30. Then, a 20+ stroke rally led to a backhand error, and his third double fault of the match gave Kavcic the break back and allowed him to stay in the match.

Up a break in the third set, Harrison again was unable to find a first serve, and again went down 15*-30. After missing his first serve, he made a tactical decision that in the end could have won him the match.

He decided to serve and volley.

"You know, a lot of times you get to a big point like that and so much of what my mentality is when I go up 15-30 is that I make sure I make the guy play," said Harrison when asked about that point after the match. "Knowing that, knowing that he's probably just going to smooth it in - that usually leaves you with a waist-high or shoulder-high volley, because he's trying to play it deep. And so I said, 'You know what? The guy's got a really solid backhand return, he hasn't hit any hard lines, so I'm going to come in, I'm going to see if I can get a shoulder-high volley and I did. At that point you just have to trust yourself to execute the volley, which I was able to at that moment."

Harrison, who as mentioned in our interview posted yesterday, has been working hard with a sports psychologist, is clearly improved in his ability to focus in key moments on a tennis court. "That's the sort of situational tennis that you can think about whenever you're thinking clearly," he said. "Now, if I'm not thinking clearly - if I'm just going, you know, I just lost [the second set tiebreaker] …everything that just got away from me? I'm not able to think clearly, not able to think rationally. And when I think rationally, I have great tennis instincts. That's one of my biggest strengths."

Harrison certainly had his mental work cut out for him after that second tiebreak. He went down 2*-4 at the changeover but rallied for 5*-4 after a big forehand winner, followed by a Kavcic double fault and then winning yet another marathon rally. In the middle of that rally, a ball off the back of the baseline that some in the audience thought may have been out. With Harrison ready to possibly serve for the match, the Slovenian spent a good minute arguing with umpire Marc Bell. Whether the wait allowed him to catch his breath and re-focus, or took some of Harrison's focus away - or whether it had no impact on the game - Kavcic won both of Harrison's service points and, eventually, the set.

But Harrison, as noted, regrouped (after a long talk with Tournament Director Mike Loo following a bathroom break). "That's the type of match that you wouldn't have seen me bounce back from after losing the second set tiebreaker like that. My mentality going into the 3rd set after losing such a war of a second set - I'm going, 'You know what? He's feeling it, I'm feeling it. If I can show him that it doesn't matter that he just won an hour-and-20-minute second set or however long it was, and I can bring a high level to start this third set and just him know hey - you did good to win that second set, but your'e going to have to do it again - that's the sort of energy that I've got to try to bring all the time. Just make myself a really, really tough out, make guys feel like they have to play really good tennis."

You can watch the entire match here:

Harrison and Nguyen couldn't have different paths to today's semifinal. Harrison, the highly touted teen who was Top 50 in the ATP just after turning 20 and who represented the USA in the Olympics and Davis Cup, has gotten plenty of wild cards and made ATP World Tour-level semifinals. When he nearly dropped out of the Top 200 last year, it was considered a disaster. Nguyen, just a year older, the somewhat anonymous college kid (he won four NCAA titles at USC along side his friend Steve Johnson) who has played mostly Futures events, doesn't get wild cards, and has never even played an ATP World Tour singles* match. If and when he makes it into the Top 200 this year, it will be considered a massive achievement.

Whatever the results of todays matches, both have a lot to be proud of this week.

*Note: Nguyen did play in the US Open doubles tournament in 2008, having earned a wildcard by virtue of winning the Kalamazoo Boys 18s with J.T. Sundling. He was the first Vietnamese-American to play in the main draw of that event, something he's immensely proud of.

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.
 

Krueger shocks Marchenko to advance to the Winnetka quarters

Mitchell Krueger, (c) Jonathan Kelley,
On the Rise

Times were tough for Mitchell Krueger.

The 21-year-old Texan had been broken early in the third set against #2 seed Illya Marchenko and was serving at 3*-5 to stay in the 2015 Nielsen Pro Tennis Championship. Down 15-30, he hit a big first serve that set up a nice drop volley, and the next two points hit a big - and unreturned - second serves to force Marchenko to try to serve out the match. Which Marchenko failed to do - bookending the next game with dual ugly double faults, and throwing in two additional unforced errors.

"The whole third set I was struggling to hold serve," said Krueger. "Even my first two service games, I saved break points, and he was able to break me in the third one. I was missing too many first serves. I felt like I was guiding it. After I got broken, I just told myself, 'You gotta go after it.' So I started swinging faster and hitting a bigger serve, and thankfully started making some first serves, and putting pressure on him on return and as you saw, he cracked a little bit under the pressure."

At 5*-5, there was still plenty of work to be done, however.  On the first point, Krueger hit a big serve that elicited a short return - a little too short, it turned out, as Krueger's approach shot was returned by a spectacular forehand down the line pass. Two points later, nearly the exact same thing happened: big serve, short return, scramble to hit an approach shot, and a huge forehand pass, although this time the shot went cross court.

That gave Marchenko two break points that felt like match points (and indeed, I erroneously tweeted as much). On the first, Krueger hit another big first serve that got another very short reply. This time, however, Krueger approached to the Ukrainian's backhand, and Marchenko netted the pass. On the second, Krueger hit ANOTHER big first serve that got YET ANOTHER short reply. Again, Krueger approached to the backhand. This time, Marchenko got the passing shot over the net, but Krueger was ready, and hit a perfect drop volley to get to deuce. Four points later, Krueger held and the pressure was squarely on Marchenko to try to take the match to a final set tiebreak.

And again, Marchenko flinched. Four errors later, Krueger gave the crowd a huge yell and moved into the quarterfinals.

Wow in Winnetka, part 2. Great win for @mitch_krueger pic.twitter.com/8lJxQgSoNC

— Jonathan Kelley (@jokelley_tennis) July 8, 2015

The upset of the #2 seed came one day after a similar three-set upset took place on Center court, when Nicolas Meister took out Tatsuma Ito. Today in the second round, Meister took on a fellow qualifier, local hero Dennis Nevolo. In a two-hour, two-set match, Meister survived a thrilling second set tiebreak, saving six set points on the way to a 6-3 7-6(12) win.

"I just kept telling myself to play the right way, go for my shots, keep swinging fast because I knew he wouldn't give it to me. I knew I'd have to hit through him or at least match pace to pace with him. Because as soon as he gets a rhythm, you can see, he can hit 30-40 balls in a row."

When asked how he prepared for the match today, Meister mentioned that he played lots of Boggle with his host family and ate some Cheez-Its.

It worked.

A few minutes after Meister's win, his fellow former UCLA Bruin, Marcos Giron, dropped a tough, seesaw match against world #107 Blaz Kavcic, 3-6 6-2 7-5. Down 1*-4 in the third set, Giron won a string of points to even the match at 4-4. After players traded holds, Giron was serving at 5*-6 30-15 when he threw in a killer double fault. Two points later, the Slovenian escaped with the win.

Kavcic will next take on the highest profile player in the draw, Ryan Harrison. Harrison won the best match of the tournament this far - a 6-7(2) 7-5 7-6(5) extremely tense affair with Canadian Frank Dancevic. The quality of the match varied, with some remarkable defense and shotmaking from both players balanced by 12 double faults, including one by Dancevic down set point in the second set.

If nothing else, the match will be memorable for this from Fancy Frank:

@FSOTennis https://t.co/s8S1sGV61U

— Dan Evan (@Dan_EvanR) July 8, 2015

Afterward, Harrison gave a long, thoughtful interview, which I will try to post later this week.

Three other second-round singles matches took place during the day session:

• Swiss Adrian Bossel d. #4 seed Austin Krajicek 7-6(6) 6-3
• #7 seed Somdev Devvarman (UVA) d. Matija Pecotic (Princeton)
• Daniel Nguyen d. qualifier Andrew Whittington 3-6 6-1 6-2

"I guess I'm a slow starter," Nguyen joked, having also come back from a set down in his first round match.  "He was playing solid in the first set. He was dictating, moving me around the court. I was getting a bit frustrated.  But I turned it around in the second set. I started serving better, made him play one more ball, and the focus level was a lot better."

After his match, Nguyen headed over to Centre Court to check out his next round opponent. Given the score, he thought he was scoping out Marchenko. Turns out, he was scoping out Krueger.

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.

Mister Meister steals the show in Winnetka

Four on-the-rise American teens were featured in first-round action at the Nielsen Pro Tennis Championship in Winnetka on Tuesday. But the star of the day turned out to be a 26-year-old, former college guy, recently returned from injury.

Nicolas Meister upset #1 seed Tatsuma Ito of Japan 1-6 6-2 6-4 in just over 2 hours.  It was first career Top 100 victory the former UCLA Bruin (and Tae Kwon Do black belt) and an impressive display of the same grinding tennis that took him to a challenger final in Maui earlier this year, and three qualifying matches against increasingly tough competition a couple of days ago.

Nicolas Meister, (c) Jonathan Kelley, On the Rise

Meister didn't hold serve at all in the first set. "I just didn't feel like I was hitting the ball that clean. The wind was getting to me ... his ball was just going a lot more through the court than what I was facing in qualies. But I didn't get down on myself. I just told myself, 'no loose errors, just try to get some kind of rhythm, maybe you can put some pressure on him.'" In the end, his perseverance - along with 12 double faults from Ito - paid off.

Meister was out for a few months earlier this year.  "My hips were kind of bothering me, I wasn't able to go back-to-back days without them feeling pain or just getting really tight. So I spent a couple of months trying to get my mobility back, and I ended up hanging out at Taylor Dent's academy a lot, and I actually learned a lot talking to him and watching kids play points. I had a good time."

After Meister qualified, there were four spots in which he could have been placed  - as it turned out, he got the worst spot, in theory at least. "It's happened like 5 times already, I kind of just knew that was going to happen. Well, I kind of thought it was going to be my doubles partner (Mackenzie McDonald) because you always play your doubles partner first round ... but it is what it is."

Ito's countryman, Yuichi Sugita, didn't make the trip to Winnetka, meaning a lucky loser spot was open. That was taken by Ernesto Escobedo, Meister's victim on Monday. According to Escobedo, there was a coin flip to determine whether he or Farris Gosea would take the 6th seed's spot. "I was so nervous for that. I just got lucky, I guess."

Ernesto Escobedo
(c) Jonathan Kelley, On the Rise

Escobedo took full advatage of his luck by winning an extremely dramatic, bordering on epic match against Tennys Sandgren. Sandgren, a ... shall we say expressive ... player with big groundies and great movement, was in nearly every one of the Californian's service games, compiling 13 break points in the first two sets while facing only two of his own. Unfortunately for the former Tennessee Vol, he converted only 3 of those - but two came at the tail end of the second set to take the match to a third.

In that third set, Sandgren compiled six more break points. But Escobedo used his big serve and absolutely massive forehand to save them time after time. After each unconverted opportunity, Sandgren's head hung a little lower, his pleading to the tennis gods became a little more plaintive, his shirt changes a bit more frequent (he wore five shirts in all).

Finally, the match came to the perhaps inevitable conclusion - a third-set tiebreak. A buster. Escobedo took the early lead as Sandgren started to cramp. Tennys yelled at his leg muscles, but to no avail.  In the end, it was the newly 19-year-old (as of Saturday, July 4) Escobedo who got the victory, and a bit of revenge from his 4-6 4-6 loss to Sandgren at the Charlottesville Futures tournament last month. It was only the second challenger-level win of Escobedo's young career.

"I just stuck with it, I just kept on trying, kept on trying. Never gave up." He hadn't realized quite how many break points he had saved. "He had 19 break points? Woah. Good serving, good forehands, pretty much," which is the basis of his big game. One forehand in particular stuck out - a service return winner down the line toward the end of the final set. "Yeah, that felt amazing." Escobedo hopes to stay healthy this summer; he suffered two bulging discs in his back last November, which limited his play in the first part of 2015.

Escobedo was the only one of the four American teens to garner wins on the day. Two higher ranked - but younger - guys, Stefan Kozlov and Frances Tiafoe, were unable to win a set against Ryan Harrison or Somdev Devvarman, respectively, while in the evening match, local legend Tom Fawcett fell to Marcos Giron in straight sets.

Harrison and Kozlov both displayed impressive all-court games that at times mirrored each other (or perhaps that was the identical shirts). Kozlov went up early breaks in both sets, but wasn't able to close them out. Early in the second set, Harrison tweaked the same ankle in which he'd torn ligaments two months prior, during a swing, in Asia that kept him out of the French Open. A trainer was called to the court.

"It was really scary," said Harrison. "I 've got a lot of tape on it under my sock. So when I twisted it, I felt a little pop. And I was like 'Oh man, that's not good, I probably need to stop.' But then, I knew from the feeling of two months ago, when I tore it, that if I had actually torn something again, I wouldn't have been able to even stand up or walk around, because when I did that in Asia, I literally couldn't even stand up. So when I was able to jog, I was like, 'Oh, maybe the pop I felt was like scar tissue breaking up or something,' so I decided to stay out here a little bit."

Harrison moved gingerly the first couple of games after taking a medical time-out. "I was super scared, because I'd just torn it so bad that I didn't want to take a hard step here in the first round of a tournament, when I have the full summer coming up, and risk tearing something again. And so I almost started at like 50% and just built into it, and by the end I was able to run a little bit because my confidence was getting back." In the final game, Harrison's speed was at full-tilt and he got to enough balls to force Kozlov into errors that ended his tournament well before the younger player would have liked.

Ryan Harrison returning serve, with @MikeCTennis looking on. #WinnetkaCH pic.twitter.com/d1kEv9HwxA

— Jonathan Kelley (@jokelley_tennis) July 7, 2015

The first win of the day went to Mitchell Krueger, who had a straightforward 6-4 6-1 match over Australia's Alex Bolt in windy conditions. Krueger flew in from Wichita, where he reached the final of the Futures. "My goal is to make the US Open [qualies]. I have no points [to defend] the rest of the summer until after the US Open. I try not to think about it too much, but this is definitely a good step in the right direction." Prior to Wichita, Krueger spent time on the red clay of Europe. "Six weeks, six tournaments. I played a lot of close matches. They were really strong tournaments. Results-wise, it wasn't what I wanted it to be. But I'm playing much higher level of competition, and every match I lost was really close - I had chances in all of them." Krueger added that he likes red clay more than green clay.

Another good win came for Daniel Nguyen, who came back to beat Henrique Cunha (Duke) 6-7(4) 6-2 6-2. It was the first win in over a month for the USC Trojan. "In the beginning, I was just really uptight for some reason. Being in the States, I guess I want to do well. Had set point in the first set on his serve, but just didn't pull it out. But I kept staying focused, tried to stay positive, and it was good getting the W."

Nguyen missed the cut-off for Wimbledon qualifying by 2 spots. "That was a little depressing. It was cool, though, just to be around the guys. It was played at Roehampton, so it wasn't at the All-England Club." Prior to making the trip, Nguyen said, "It's so stressful. You're just basically checking the Player Zone website, and seeing the lines going through the names, and seeing the next guy move in. I see my name - I'm like 3, 4 out. And then some people get in, you're like, 'Gosh, I'm so close. All right, I've got to go. I'm already here [in England].' So you get to the site, you're hoping 2 guys pull out, or don't show up, or get injured. And then none of that happened. So you just wait around, and you wait for all the matches to finish. The first day it rained, so they only played half the matches, so I had to wait another day. So it was definitely stressful."

Nguyen referred to the 150-300 ATP rankings as "the War Zone. You're playing against pretty solid players and everyone's trying to get to the Top 100, so it's very competitive."

Toward the end of the day, a slugfest took place on Court 5 that was much closer than the 6-2 6-4 score would suggest. The winner was qualifier Dennis Nevolo, who beat Jason Jung in a battle of former Big 10 stars that featured some terrific hard-court baseline rallies. Nevolo won a 15-minute game, 12-deuce game (if I'm not mistaken) to go up 6-2 4*-1, but Jung battled back to even the second set at 4-4. Immediately, though, Jung was broken, thanks to a double fault and two unforced errors - plus a wicked Nevolo cross-court backhand winner. Nevolo then served for the match - a match I suggest you take the time to watch.

"Every time I play Jason, it's just so intense," said Nevolo. "We've known each other since we were probably 12 years old, and it's an amazing battle every single time we play. It can always go either way. Tonight was the same thing. A lot of momentum swings. I was just fortunate to win some big points down the stretch, hung tough, and got the W. It was just one of those nights when things were clicking. I came out zoning, had a little hiccup there, and then kind of found it at the end."

I asked Nevolo to compare Challenger-level tennis to the big-time tennis people watch on TV. "If anything, it's more exciting. These guys are trying to break through. Everyone out here is putting their blood, sweat, and tears out there and just trying to get to that next level. I think everyone should just check it out once in their life."

The finale of the night was felt like a Pac XII dual match between popular local New Trier High School standout-turned-Stanford Cardinal Tom Fawcett against 2014 NCAA champion, qualifier Marcos Giron.  (Notably, all 4 qualifiers - and the Lucky Loser - won their first round matches.) Giron won the first set 6-1 over a visibly nervous Fawcett, then held on to force a tiebreak in the second, which Giron won 7-1.

Half the players in Wednesday's Round of 16 played college tennis. "It's really cool seeing a bunch of college guys out here competing and playing good tennis," said Giron. "I feel like it's a good stepping stone [to the pros]."

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.

Chicagoland players abundant at Winnetka qualies

Chicagoland (yes, that's the term used to describe the greater Chicago metropolitan area) isn't always thought of as a mecca of tennis. There are no tour-level events here, and haven't been since 1997*, the year before I moved here. There aren't any legendary academies here (although that could be changing). And the number of top-level pros from the area can be counted on the hand of someone who lost a finger in a factory incident. (Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration.)

But yesterday, just north of Chicago, something of a celebration of local tennis took place in the first and second rounds of qualies at the Nielsen Men's Pro Tennis Championship, an ATP challenger event in the stately suburb of Winnetka.  Featured in among the 32 players were at least 9 guys with local tennis connections, whether as juniors or collegians, and another couple from or connected to towns within 150 miles.

Winnetka was lovely on Sunday, the day after Independence Day, and the crowd was good sized - perhaps thanks in part to all the local players, and in part to the no-charge admission. Play started quite early - 9:00 a.m. - but a lot was to be done.  24 matches were played on four courts and gosh darn it if they didn't get all 24 matches completed in just over 10.5 hours. In addition, there were several practice courts on which main draw guys like Austin Krajicek, Ryan Harrison, and wild cards Stefan Kozlov and Frances Tiafoe took turns working on their groundies, volleys, serves, and generally adjusting to the courts, balls, and conditions. (Edited to add: Tiafoe was initially given a wild card but after withdrawals, made the main draw on his own ranking.)

Dennis Nevolo/Twitter profile pic

In the end, most of the locals lost and of the eight guys who were set to battle for four qualifying spots on Monday morning, only one of them is what you'd consider a Chicago-area kid - Dennis Nevolo, from the far north suburb of Gurnee, home of the Six Flags amusement park. (Nevolo indeed won his final round qualifying match today, beating Andrew Carter 6-0- 6-4.) Nevolo's feat this week is impressive - it is his first tournament since tearing a ligament in his thumb at the end of his epic 6-7(17!) 7-5 6-3 win over Alexander Sarkissian in the Irvine Futures final last September. Read more about Nevolo's time off in this interview from February that I posted in May.

Overall it was a good start for Americans, who won 12 of the 16 opening-round matches, then 6 of the 8 second rounders. Leading off on Centre Court was one of two big upsets of the day. Wild card Samuel Shropshire, of nearby Evanston's Northwestern University, surprised Australia's Greg Jones, a former Top 200 player, 6-2 3-6 6-3. Jones kept a monologue going throughout the match as his errors piled up while Shropshire showed plenty of the moxie and shotmaking that made him one of the Big Ten's top players. Shropshire had a tougher go of it in the second round against Ernesto Escobedo, as the just-turned-19-year-old won 6-1 6-4.

Another big first round result came from Wilmette's Aron Hiltzik (Wilmette is just two towns south of Winnetka). Hiltzik, the younger brother and University of Illinois teammate of main draw wild card recipient Jared Hiltzik, fought incredibly well to get top seed Ante Pavic to two tiebreaks, and then let Pavic beat himself to win 7-6(4) 7-6(2). Unfortunately for the local, the grueling mid-day battle took too much out of him and he went on to lose the last match of the day to Carter, 6-3 6-4.

An all-south-Chicagoland, all-wild card match saw Hinsdale's Martin Joyce - big serve, aggressive net game - take down Matteson's Julian Childers 6-3 6-1. It was an early introduction to the Big 10 for Joyce, who will be starting at The Ohio State University in the fall, while Childers is a rising senior at the University of Illinois. Joyce went on to lose to Nevolo, yet another Illini, in the second round of qualifying.

In a match without a local connection, 34-year-old Ryan Haviland of South Carolina and Stanford upset #3 seed Matt Reid of Australia, 2-6 6-3 6-3. Haviland took 11 years off the tour and had several surgeries in that time, mostly on his knees. He also founded his own tennis academy in Greenville, S.C.  When he came back earlier this year, he started getting results playing serve and volley tennis, which ultimately wore down the relatively inexperienced Reid. In the second round, Haviland beat big-hitting University of Southern California Trojan Eric Johnson 7-5 6-4. He then took time to talk about his career and comeback with me - I'll have his full interview later this week.

But by far the biggest winner of the qualifying tournament was 2014 NCAA champ Marcos Giron. The former UCLA Bruin had played a Futures semifinal in British Columbia, 2000 miles to the north west, on Saturday afternoon. He was undecided if he should then go home, or fly to Chicago to give the Challenger a chance. The only flights available were Red Eyes, but he decided "what the heck," checked in for qualies by phone, and landed with very limited sleep at 5:00 a.m. at O'Hare International Airport.

Marcos Giron, (c) Jonathan Kelley,
On the Rise (a tennis blog)

Unfortunately, his tennis bag did not arrive with him.

But Giron was prescient enough to wear his tennis shoes instead of the sneakers he had planned to wear, and to carry on his racquets as well (United wouldn't let him carry on the whole tennis bag).  He caught a bit of shut-eye but was on court in time to take on India's Christopher Marquis who, perhaps fortunately for the American, was on a nine-match losing streak in which he had failed to win a set. Giron took that match 6-3 6-3, and then after a rest faced Virginia Tech University's Patrick Daciek. Daciek is a bit of a character on court, passionate to say the least, and he brought it all in the first set against Giron. The few games that I saw of the match, Daciek dictated play a bit more, while Giron bled errors off the ground. Daciek won that set 6-3 but then made the odd choice to take a bathroom break, which allowed Giron to regroup. From there he lost only 2 more games, taking two breadsticks back to his housing where he had what I trust was a solid night's sleep.

Today, in the final round, he faced another University of Illinois guy in Farris Gosea, the wily lefty from Wales who had been impressive in taking out Sekou Bangoura and #7 seed Kaichi Uchida in the first two rounds. Again, Giron went down a set. But this time he went down a late break in the second, after the match had been moved indoors due to rain. However, with Gosea serving for the match, Giron broke back for a tiebreak. There, Giron went down 3-6* with the next two points on Gosea's serve. Gosea, however, couldn't convert (gifting a double fault on one point) and Giron took the last 5 points of the tiebreak, and then all six games of the third set, to qualify for the main draw.

In addition to Giron and Nevolo, Australia's Andrew Whittington qualified today with a 7-6(6) 6-4 win over Haviland and another UCLA Bruin, Nicolas Meister, beat Escobedo 6-4 7-5. Both of those two matches are available online, as will be the rest of the matches this tournament, at http://livestream.com/accounts/5057055/events/4167801 and http://livestream.com/accounts/5057055/Winnetka2015centrecourt. Full qualifying results are available at http://nielsenprotennis.com/qualifying-draw/.

Monday is an off-day for me but I'll be back tomorrow for much more. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook for updates, pics, and commentary.

* That 1997 WTA tournament was won by Lindsay Davenport, who beat 15-year-old wild card Serena Williams in the semis and Lisa Raymond in the quarters. All three women are still alive at this year's Wimbledon - Williams in the singles quarterfinals, Raymond in the doubles quarterfinals, and Davenport as coach of Madison Keys.