Tennis Acumen

COLLEGE TO THE PROS (PART TWO OF TWO)

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.

Photo of the Day: Tennys Sandgren

Just turned 22, American tennis player Tennys Sandgren caught our eye at the 2013 Lexington, Kentucky Challenger event. 

He qualified into the tournament on his birthday, ranked at # 253 in the world. Read our exclusive 2019 interview with Tennys Sandgren here: (LINK)

tennyssandgren

 

FROM COLLEGE TENNIS TO THE PRO TOUR (PART ONE OF TWO)

Tennis Acumen (TA): Tennis Acumen here at the Columbus Fall Challenger 2022 with Tennys Sandgren.

(photo credit: Karl Corbett)

TA: Sang, it has been a while. Nice to see you again. I'm doing I'm doing a series on college players that turn pro. So, I would like to ask you to just step back in your memory. Give me anything you can about the differences between the college and the professional tour. You know, just hold forth on the transition. I'd love to hear it.

Tennys Sandgren: Well, the level of play isn't much different. There's a couple of things that I always notice when I practice with the  college guys at MTSU (Middle Tennessee State University). The Tennessee State guys are good. They're not highly ranked college players and they're good players. But do they  know what happens when the points get going? One difference between college and the tour is court position. In college, court position stays pretty deep in the court. Nobody's particularly great at taking the angles by moving forward....   and second, there's  just the level of drop off in matches. You see ebbs and flows in matches and you see college players, when they're not at their top form, and stay off track for a game or two. With the high-level pro guys, there are only very small windows, maybe just a minute here and there, and they are back to top form. College guys can take a set hiatus, they can go down a break in the first set, and that might be the day. So, it's just that mental flexibility,  bend but not break and it's all about that level of concentration. You know, everybody has different levels of ability. And you're out there for 2 hours, 3 hours. It's a long time to stay focused. It's a long time to keep your mental energy up, to stay energized. It's a skill in and of itself: How well can you actually stay focused on the task at hand and how long does your mind drift? Do you get negative? Do you not believe in yourself? How long does that happen? Because you're not at your best when that's happening. So that's another thing that’s just different from the tour. It's not like the level of play is worse. It's just little factors that come into play when you're playing matches that really make a big difference.

This interview is broken into four different ‘quick reads’ that will be posted here over time.

NICK CHAPPELL: FAVORITE CITIES ON THE TOUR

This is one of twelve excerpts from an exclusive interview with Nick Chappell at the 2022 Columbus Fall Challenger. They will be posted over time in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Tennis Acumen: You mentioned different countries, different cities. What are some of your favorite cities on the tour?

Nick Chappell: Los Cabos, in Mexico, is great. Earlier this year, and that tournament was only my second ATP tournament. It was my first appearance in a main draw, and I qualified for it. The tournament was really well run. All the matches were at night, so it had a really fun environment. A lot of people coming out after work just to watch. After that I went to Lima, Peru for a Challenger. The tournament was just standard, nothing special about it. But the city was really cool, with really healthy food. Food is really big with me and that made the whole trip. My girlfriend even got to come with me. But I really liked Mexico City when I was here in April of this year. Oh, yes. That was really best of both worlds. Really fun tournament plus a really cool city.

Tennis Acumen: You got to do some sightseeing.

Nick Chappell: Yes. Honestly, all the Challengers I've played in Mexico have been among my favorite tournaments. Puerto Vallarta was another one. That was an unbelievable tournament. It was just a huge party atmosphere, and they got a lot of people out, which is something I really enjoyed.

Tennis Acumen: So, you love the crowd.

Nick Chappell: Yes, I do. I've really enjoyed traveling in Europe as well. I played quite a bit in Europe. Usually in the summer I would go to Europe for a couple of months. This year, since there were more tournaments in South America and in the US, I just stayed in the US. But typically, I've gone a couple of summers, played in France and really enjoyed that. I played some Challengers, one or two Futures and even played club matches there. France was the most fun place I've played tennis, actually, because the people really appreciate good tennis. It's just really nice to play in France.

Photo of the Day: Alexander Zverev

In 2019, German ace Alexander Zverev came into the Cincinnati Masters tournament on a roll. He made it to the quarterfinals in Montreal, just the week prior. Here, his luck ran out, as he lost his second round match to Novak Djokovic’s hitting partner, Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, in three sets.

photo credit: Karl Corbett, (c) Tennis Acumen