Tennis Acumen had an exclusive interview with Tennys Sandgren at the Columbus, Ohio Fall 2022 Challenger. Here’s part of that conversation.
(photo credit: Karl Corbett)
TA: The business aspect, the logistics, going from college, where everything is done for you, to going out completely on your own. How did that work for you?
Tennys Sandgren: At college, they take care of everything. They take care of the travel arrangements, hotel, food, training times. All your schedules are laid out for you.. It suits my personality that I take responsibility for those things and to not lose your way. But it's an added burden. You've got to think about that stuff. It's not fun to lose on a Tuesday, then try to make travel arrangements to go play in the next tournament. And sometimes there are difficult travel arrangements and it's challenging and it's not fun.
TA: Did you get used to it fairly quickly?
Tennys Sandgren: As a pro? Well, my first three or four years, a lot of it was in the States, so a lot of it was driving, a lot of it. I used to get in the car and go drive to the next match, which is nice. I like to drive. So, it's, it's not a bad thing. I would much rather drive than fly, that's for sure. Interesting.
TA: Moving from college to the pros, and the experience of being part of a team versus all of a sudden going out on your own, what was that transition like?
Tennys Sandgren: Actually, the tour is easier for me. I like playing on a team, but one of the things that I love about tennis is that it is just you, on your own. And so, it's more natural for me to play this sport on my own, but team sports are great. And playing tennis when it's in a team format is great. But I like the solace of playing tennis on your own, on your own side and doing your own thing.
TA: Interesting. And talk about crowds in terms of college, I imagine you have more audience than you do in the Futures and the Challengers. How is that different, to step out and make the change and there's no support there.
Tennys Sandgren: It's a challenge to pick yourself up day in, day out without much of the crowd you are accustomed to. You might have three or four hundred people watching your stream, but that's not people, being there, eyes on you. When something is observed, it changes, the thing literally changes. And so, when you're being observed and observed by a lot of people, it changes how you go about things on the court. And here at the Challengers, everybody knows it's being streamed, but it's not the same thing.
This interview is broken into four different ‘quick reads’ that will be posted here over time.
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