Tennys thought it was a dream. Some tennis fans might have too. Only two months before he made his trip to Melbourne, Tennys Sandgren broke into the top-100. Over a week after he landed in Melbourne he shocked the fifth seed Dominic Thiem in an epic five-setter on Monday. He followed his win over Stan Wawrinka to make a stunning run to the last eight.
But Sandgren refused to believe.
“I don’t know, man. I don’t know. I am starting to disbelieve that a little bit. I don’t know if it’s a dream or not,” he said in the post-match interview.
Sandgren is new to most Australian Open viewers. But Australian Open isn’t new for Sandgren. He’s been to Melbourne for five years now. On the first four occasions, he didn’t qualify. In the fifth, he upset the fifth and ninth seed seed.
The best he’s done in a Grand Slam before this are first-round exits at Roland Garros and the US Open.
He’s the second man in two decades to make the quarter-finals here on debut.
“Sleep, a lot,” Sandgren replied when quizzed how he’s going to approach the rest of the tournament. But so far, for Sandgren, it’s been like a dream even when he’s awake.
For those of us who don’t know much about Sandgren – which is most of us – here are a few things about him.
The name Tennys
No, his parents didn’t seek psychics’ help to foresee his interest in the sport and name him after it. The name’s Swedish, it’s after his great-grandfather. But, if you knew him well, you’d can call him Sang. Or if you were a baritsa, he’s probably tell you his name is David.
His first coach: his mom
Maybe his mother, Lia, did foresee her son’s interest. For, she was a tennis player and his first tennis coach. Sandgren was schooled at home and more attention was given to his tennis.
“She’s not here,” he told tennis.com about his mom. “She’s a very realistic person so when I’m playing in a Slam she’s thinking: Well it’s only for a couple of days. If she knew I’d be making fourth round then she would have come.”
If not a tennis player, he’d be a “failed pro-gamer”
He’s into League of Legends, an online multiplayer video game, big-time. So, if he wasn’t into tennis, he could be a failed video game player. But, no, said Sandgren.
“It’s not the backup plan because I’m not good enough, unfortunately,” Sandgren told tennis.com. “It’s like the idea of going on vacation forever, it’s not a realistic thing. It’d be fun if I was good enough.”
And, his ATP bio says his favourite team is the Unicorns of Love (from the game).
Guess his favourite shot
It’s Sneak Attack By Roger (SABR)
His rank in February 2015
714. A hip surgery in March 2014 ruled him out of the game for over six months and the points he accumulated little-by-little like the food gathered by ants in summer were lost. Right now, Sandgren’s ranked 97.
He seems to neither carry the burden of expectations nor get affected by the pressure to win.
“I have settled on just kind of what I always settle on: To keep getting better and try and affect people positively sometimes. Don’t be so negative all the time,” he told tennis.com. “If people enjoy watching me play, or if I can have a good interaction with somebody, that’s a win.”
This year at Melbourne, he’s already claimed his biggest success so far.
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