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Stefan Kozlov Makes Memorable ATP Debut In Newport
16 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
I arrive in Newport just in time to watch 15-year-old Stefan Kozlov make his ATP debut via a wildcard.
His opponent is the Polish veteran Michal Przysiezny, who once beat Ljubicic at Wimbledon.
Kozlov holds his own early, gets to 2-all. He’s had to save a few break points, in his second service game he faced three break points and won all of them on second serves.
I like how he mixes up the speeds and continues to test the Pole’s one handed backhand. The Pole is much more powerful but Kozlov shows an uncanny ability to compete and dig his way out of holes. He saves about seven break points. But eventuall he begins to miss and he loses the set 6-3.
But it’s an impressive set for young Kozlov as early on I began to worry he might get manhandled in a rout. But he’s competitive with the 29-year-old veteran. The Pole visibly gives a clap to Kozlov after the kid redirects a two-handed backhand up the line on the rise for a winner.
In the second set, Kozlov takes a commanding lead and almost goes up 5-0 but the proud Pole battles back. They play a tiebreaker. The Pole takes a 6-3 lead on his serve. Three match points. But guess what? Kozlov fights back and eventually wins the tiebreak!
This kid is amazing!
Third set, the stunned Pole takes a 3-0 lead. But guess what? Young Kozlov battles back to 3-all!
This kid belongs!
Eventually, after an injury timeoout at 4-3 Kozlov, for some kind of hip pain from an early fall in the match, the Pole buckles down and turns the match around and wins 6-4 in the third. Kozlov was hampered by leg cramps in the final moments and even fell down at the net, unable to shake hands with his conquerer.
It was an amazing match. Denis Kudla and Christian Harrison were both watching.
The most impressive aspect of Kozlov, besides his clam and poise and technical and tactical excellence was his ability to fight his way out of trouble. He has an uncanny talent to battle back.
Also, the kid is a showman too. At one point in the third, he gave a Delpo style arm wave to incite the crowds after one marvelous point which he won.
After the match, his proud father Andrei came down to the court to care for his son who was hampered by the cramps. Kozlov looks younger than 15, he could even pass for 12 or 13. It’s no surprise that his body broke down in this physical long match on a hot sunny day.
Kozlov signed autographs for about ten people as he exited the court. On his way to the press conference table upstairs, Kozlov stops to watch the tennis from Sweden on Tennis Channel. He pauses to watch a few points of the action, where the unknown dark haired kid is into a third set with Dimitrov. I ask him if he’s a fan of Dimitrov and he says he’s friends with the opponent who is 17.
14 reporters swarm Kozlov at the press table firing questions at him. Young Kozlov gave concise direct answers. You can tell he’s annoyed that he lost but gracious and realistic. He has a professional manner about him that belies his age.
I asked him if he was pleased with his performance? “Yes. But I wanted to win.”
I also asked if he had a good night sleep the night before and if he had any tennis dreams?
He replied that he did not have any dreams and that there were two fire alarms last night at his hotel.
After a massage and phone interview with the Miami Herald, I got to do a Biofile with young Kozlov. Which Tennis-prose.com readers will enjoy very soon.
This is one heckuva talented player my friends. He has all the qualities, a good head, mature, smart, nice kid. He told me he got to hit with Federer last year at the US Open when he was still 14, and Federer even wanted to hit with him again which they did.
Stefan Kozlov. Remember that name.
By the way, Kozlov, 5-11, is ranked #17 in ITF juniors, he’s the highest ranked American junior, after making quarters at junior Wimbledon. He was born on Feb 1, 1998 in Macedonia.
Kozlov also added that the Newport courts play a lot differently than Wimbledon, which he said were very similar to hard courts.
Later in the afternoon I spot Andrei Kozlov out on the practice courts working with 12-year-old younger brother Boris. Coach Kozlov is hitting serves inside the baseline to deuce court forehand side of his son, repititions, over and over.
Scoop Malinowski · July 8, 2013 at 9:40 pm
Brian Baker is here working with Todd Martin, who is a touring pro at a local club. Todd told me Baker is just about at full strength and is looking to play Atlanta next week.
Dan Markowitz · July 8, 2013 at 10:18 pm
Nice article, Scoop. I find that very interesting that the father can coach his sons. I’m having a doozy of a time trying to coach my son. He has talent, he’s only 7, but I have to fight him to get him on the court and then I can’t say anything too much in the coaching sense or he starts to squirm. I think it’s easier when you have brothers close in age because then the son doesn’t always have to hit with the father.
Callum was supposed to hit with Fritz Buehning today, but I got out of work late and couldn’t get him to the try out for the McEnroe Academy. Too bad, I wanted to see what Fritz had to say about the kid’s game.
Amazing you say Kozlov is 15 but looks 12 or 13. Lots of no-name players up there in Newport, but should be interesting w/ Hewitt, Q-ball, Izzy and Mannarino, Mahut and Scheppers. The French always send a good contingent.
If only a slam could be played on the Newport grass and not the Wimby hard courts. I think it’d make for more interesting and diverse tennis.
Scoop Malinowski · July 8, 2013 at 10:45 pm
This family is very close, the father Andrei is a great guy I really like him, very interesting passionate and smart. Like I said, he was coaching Rosol at the Sony last year before Wimbledon. He’s buds with John Tomic. I like his style, he knows this sport inside and out. What was also interesting was that Stefan looked to both his dad and USTA coach (don’t know his name) and they were sitting at other ends of the court, about 20-30 yards apart. Stefan looked to both of them at different times for support. Or who knows maybe he was getting coaching from both sides ) I woke up at 5:10 am to make sure to get up here in time for this match and it was well worth it. Can’t wait to hear what Fritz says about Cal. Frenchies here are Mahut, Edouard Roger Vasselin ( he was here last year), Mannarino who beat Blake in 3 sets. Franky Moser pulled out of the singles qualies in the third set for, get this, a “toothache.” LOL. Yet Moser played doubles today with Matosevic, but they lost to Whyne Williams and Tim Smyczek.
Dan Markowitz · July 9, 2013 at 8:55 am
You ever ask Thomas Blake what’s he doing? Mannarino might be the favorite to win this event, Scoop. Beating Blake 1 in the 3rd, and the way he carved up Dustin Brown at Wimbledon. How’s the grass playing? Are players staying back or is the ball skidding very low.
Blake has never done well at Newport. Today looks like the best day of the event with all the good matchups.
I got a chance to see this kid, Elias Ymer, play Dimitrov in Sweden. Ymer looks like a fluid player. Kind of looks like the young Vijay Armitrj. He’s 17 years old and is from Sweden, although he’s obviously not an ethnic Swede. He hits the ball a ton. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him move up the rankings quickly as he’s 1000+ now.
Good result for Klahn and Sock in Winnetka. Who won the finals there or did they just not play?
SanP · July 9, 2013 at 11:08 am
Sock won in straight sets. Impressive tournament for Klahn considering he had to save two match points in first round against Dustov.
Steve · July 9, 2013 at 3:00 pm
Looks like a fun tournament but tennis has changed. We have no dominant player. We have #1 that lost to Nadal in the FO final and now, going out rather limply until the last game, he loses to Murray at Wimby. Delpo has reminded us that he’s the best & biggest ball striker in the game.
I feel like the condition of Nadal’s knee is all that matters right now. Where’s Henk with his updates???
Andrew Miller · July 9, 2013 at 7:03 pm
15 years old? Wow, smart kid, wants to improve every week, trains hard, attacking style, mature for his age, seems to have a handle on everything.
Yeah that reminds me of one one commenter said sometime back about a 12 year old, U.S. top player, youngest ever to win an ATP match at 15…none other than…Tommy Ho.
Not a shabby ATP career by any means. You can do everything right and ATP success still may not be in the cards. I am afraid the U.S. abandons long term strategy early and often – we hype these kids too soon and don’t emphasize the long term development. I think this generation of Sock and Co. will bust the myth.
Sorry again for using this as a soap-box, but the next time I see low ranked kid like Nadal beat the top player on the planet in Federer, then I will say we have someone special and new on the horizon. Until then the response will always be: “show me what you got kid.”
Andrew Miller · July 10, 2013 at 9:34 am
Sock won Winnetka, beat Klahn in 2. Finally got some footage on Klahn here vs. Kudla on green clay in 2013. First off, Kudla looks like he belongs. Playing well, solid everywhere, seems like he can stay out there for hours. Definitely earned his stripes. Second, Klahn’s backhand is going to get picked on. His backhand is getting his forehand in trouble – you punish Klahn by pulling him out wide and target that backhand, force up a weak reply, then paint the other corner with the forehand. He manages to stay in the match here with Kudla, but put him across from other ATP top 100 pros and that ball is just gone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCxDA0Szt5k
Scoop Malinowski · July 10, 2013 at 8:39 pm
No on Thomas but I did speak with Brian Barker and he’s here with some kids from Blake’s academy in Trumbull which has six courts. Speaking of Vijay, he’s here, I got to speak with him too. He was watching son Prakash lose singles to Hewitt but Master P and Querrey won in doubles in a super tiebreak.
Scoop Malinowski · July 10, 2013 at 8:41 pm
Thanks for that information about Klahn saving the MPs vs Dustov San P. Sock lost today in 3 to qualfier Jan Hernych who was down a set and break in last quali match vs. Bozoljac but he survived. Now Hernych is in quarters.
Scoop Malinowski · July 10, 2013 at 8:45 pm
Use the soapbox any time Andrew, after your performance going head to head with Jim Pierce you can say anything you want ) By the way, the guy Kozlov lost to, Prszysny, beat Rajeev Ram today in 3 sets to make the QF. Kozlov has the talent to make an ATP main draw QF, just wait till he has the physical strength. I think it’s a good thing he lost first round here the way he did, if he wins, he would get too much attention and expectations, now he can go back under the radar. I always remember Federer’s mom telling Journo RIchard Evans that Boris Becker might have won his Wimbledon too early. Life changes when these young players win too much too soon.
Scoop Malinowski · July 10, 2013 at 10:08 pm
Quotes from Kozlov and Przysiezny…
“Normally, you can’t even practice with a guy 15, and here, I almost lost the match to him,†said Przysiezny, who is ranked 113th. “For sure, he’s very good for his age.â€
“The last few weeks were really good for me because I played well on big stages, and there was a lot of pressure,†Kozlov said by phone Monday afternoon. “This was my first ATP Tour match, and I played really, really well on the clutch points against a guy with a lot more experience. I wasn’t nervous, I was just excited. In the end, I was tired and he stepped up and deserved to win.â€
“He played tricky, with a lot of slice, and made it very tough for me,†The Polish player said. “After the match, I wished him good luck and told him this was a good first match for him. He is great for this age. In five or six years, he’ll be very good.â€
“I’m learning how to play against the pros, which is much tougher because they are stronger and serve better, and it’s harder to break serve against them,†he said. “I learn from each experience.â€
Andrew Miller · July 11, 2013 at 12:17 am
Sorry Scoop my reaction was a bit strong. I have a fortune cookie that says no reason to comment when I am not up to speed. A few things:
1) It’s hard not to take other players’ opinions without a grain of salt. There are only a few players I think who have given valid opinions – Mats Wilander and Andre Agassi probably come to mind, Federer and Nadal also qualify everything they say (they never say it’s a straight road from A to B – they always fully acknowledge that a player may not make it to B given that so many variables involved).
2) After reading my harsh thoughts on the kid, I watched some tape. He has a super smooth game – hits the forehand and backhand fluidly. I’d say that’s the best hitting I have seen from a U.S. player in a long time – I liked Koslowski’s game a lot, Kudla has some nice stroke production, I love Donald Young’s game (Davydenko made a point of highlighting it, just not the mid-match beating himself up over a point here or there and then losing games and matches)
3) No idea where I am on how old someone is and readiness to play. I don’t think it’s a problem generally – we never know who’s ready or not (the worst scenario I believe is when a player is young, improving and then fires their [presumably principled] coach who made the improvement possible). Harrison won his first ATP match at 15, one of the 10 youngest ATP players to do so. Even Donald Young, I think, would have benefited in testing out the tour in a Kozlovian way. Kozlov’s approach seems like a great one – test the water now, and keep testing it to get the feedback you need to prepare yourself. This has worked for the U.S. college players, who as amateurs are getting higher rankings and superior experience before hitting the tour full time. I want to believe that’s why players like Steve Johnson, Brad Klahn have risen so many spots in 1 year – that they were already in tune with the rigors of the ATP game and acclimated much better.
So good luck Kozlov! Keep getting better kid. You will have TP support.
Pablo Matthews · July 14, 2013 at 2:26 am
You are absolutely right about good coaches coming from different backgrounds. One does not have to be a top player to be a good coach, but to put Kozlov into the category of solid coaches is a travesty. You must visit his “academy” for a day, and take along a Russian translator to understand what is being taught and how. Kozlov did not steal my girlfriend….. he stole my boyfriend lol, and i am using this forum to get him back. You must have been joking, I have nothing against Kozlov as an individual, do not know him enough to like him or dislike him, i just do not care enough. However, as a teaching tennis pro, it does bug me a bit that he is mentioned in the same breath with tennis professionals.
loreley · July 15, 2013 at 2:36 am
Is that the young boy? He was hitting with Gulbis before the match against Tsonga. He was also cheering for Gulbis on twitter 😉
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98806676@N07/9270613481/in/set-72157634624379750
Scoop Malinowski · July 15, 2013 at 8:50 am
Yes that’s Kozlov Loreley. Next time I will ask him about his experiences hitting with Gulbis )