First ATP Ranked Win

 

As the beginning of my second week of tournaments commences, I am faced with an opponent and friend in the first round of qualifying. Ahmed and I met last week and have practiced three times together already. He is from nearby Libya, but a part-time resident here at the Skanes Magic Hotel & Resort, living here for most of the year to play in professional tournaments. Before the match, we spoke in passing at breakfast where he said, “what happens on the court stays on the court.” I agreed and the anticipation mounted ahead of our clash.

We started off the match on court one around 1:00 PM and both held serve to begin. After that, I locked down the baseline and began working the points aggressively, dictating when I could and following my shots to the net. I wasn’t serving too strong in the first set, as each of my service games went to 30-30. However, each time I came up with big first serves to put myself in position to get the hold. I broke his serve with ease and won 6-1. In the second set, I continued my momentum to lead 4-0. I could tell Ahmed was fading mentally with a series of underarm serves, until he finally refocused on my service game where we traded deuces for 10 minutes until he broke. Now leading 4-1, I dialed-in my return and broke back allowing myself to serve out the match to win 6-1 6-1.

Our handshake at the net was respectful and I almost felt bad for him given the anticipation leading up to the match. I was expecting a grueling battle, but I was just a wall off the baseline and focused throughout the match. I am very proud of this performance and my first win over an ATP ranked player (#1863) in ITF Futures events.