Behind The Racquet

“I was lucky. My first main coach, Scott, always believed in me. He always thought I had the potential. Did I believe that? I don’t know. Probably not, but I was the guy that always took it one step at a time.

I was good in juniors, but I wasn’t insane. I wasn’t winning two slams. I knew I was going to college for a couple of years and then I was going to play afterwards.

It’s interesting seeing this core group of Americans that are a little younger than me. I don’t take it personally, not always being in the conversation. Those guys, Fritz, Tommy, they’re top 10 in the world now, Foe is making semis. Just Sinner, Alcaraz, all these guys, the level they’re producing is crazy. Again, I don’t view that as a negative. If I were to be making deep runs in tournaments consistently, making the semis of slam, yeah, there would be more. But I haven’t done that, so I can’t really expect that.

One thing about me, is it did take me a while to break through. I don’t really think that helps you in terms of the spotlight. If you’re 25 when you get into the top 100, they’re already looking for the next batch, and the next guys were there. It keeps a fire lit under me, because I know how hard it is to get there and I know it can be gone so fast. These years, they roll on. I’m 31, which is crazy. The guys just get younger, and I still feel good.

It was a tough time to get here. A few years ago, my parents split up and I was going through a hip injury. The hip injury was difficult because it wasn’t one of those things where it was incredibly debilitating, but it lingered. Then, once I got surgery, it probably took me a good 10 months to be really playing well.

Once I got back to playing, I was excited to get going. A part of me, I really enjoyed the time back home and to not be traveling. But it was nice to start slow – it was a progression. It took a long time before I felt like myself again. For a while I couldn’t even hit a serve over 95 miles an hour, and that’s not going to cut it.

But even through the injury and coming back and my parent’s divorce, tennis was an outlet. During that time with my family and after the surgery, it made me think about, “Why am I playing tennis? Is this really my decision? Why am I doing this?” You have these moments when you’re traveling, alone, getting ready to play, and you’re like, “What am I doing with my life? I’m traveling the world to play tennis.” And it all sounds incredibly, I don’t know, entitled?

But then you realize, of course, it’s something that you love to do. But also, it’s something that the people in my life are invested in too. They’ve given me so much to do this, and I’m a representative of them as well. I want to make them all proud, just like I want to make myself proud.”