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: I got to tell you, two years ago, they did the Cincinnati tournament in New York.
Tennys Sandgren: That's right. Yes. With no audience.
TA: So, Brenda and I are sitting at home one night watching a match. The camera goes up into the stands. There's a raccoon walking across the bleachers. A raccoon gets to watch, but our tickets wouldn't get us in.
Tennys Sandgren: I played that tournament and got through the qualies, then lost to Novak in the second round. But that Cincy tournament, that was challenging, that was tough stuff, and it's tougher, much tougher, playing in a big stadium that's empty. Mm hmm. Tougher than playing in a park. So, it's a different atmosphere. Overall, any tournament, any audience, it’s not just for one week. You're playing week in, week out. You play every day, basically. And you're playing these futures matches with nobody in the stands. And it's so tough. And you got to stay motivated. You got to keep your focus. And you felt that during the COVID tour, when there were no crowds at the high-level pro matches. You see guys that normally wouldn't lose their focus and become disengaged, not up for it the same way that they were. Because it's just different playing in front of empty stadium. It's just different.
This interview is broken into four different ‘quick reads’ that will be posted here over time.
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