Two favorite players of this site are Stefan Kozlov and Bryden Klein. Both Klein and Kozlov are personable, approachable, engaging players trying to carve out ATP careers.
But both are struggling right now with confidence issues. Klein lost a heartbreaking 76 in the third set at US Open qualies first round to France’s Vincent Millot after squandering a match point. Since then, Klein has lost in the first round to a teenager Will Blumberg in the Cary, North Carolina Challenger and this week he lost a three setter to the top seed in the opening round of the Columbus Challenger. It’s probably safe to conclude that Klein is at a low point of his career right now, with a confidence tank at empty.
Kozlov lost at US Open qualies first round to Guido Andreeozi in straight sets and has not played a match since, which suggests either an injury or taking a breather. This year Kozlov, now ranked at 144 after hitting 115 in February, has gone 2-9 in ATP main draw matches. He’s had wildcards into many events and failed to capitalize on the opportunities, losing in straight sets to Querrey in Cincy, Bambri by retirement in Washington, 57 67 to Halys in Atlanta as a qualifier, first round loss in Newport to Menendez Maceiras. Two of his best wins came on grass vs Steve Johnson at Queens and Dustin Brown in s’Hertogenbosch.
Kozlov and Klein, two players struggling to establish themselves in the world’s most fiercely contested playground, the ATP World Tour.
No tags
Dan Markowitz · September 19, 2017 at 10:22 pm
Dan Markowitz writes:
Klein was clearly distraught after losing to Millot if 1st rd of Qualis. He'd played a gutsy match, battling through vertigo to get match points. He wrote this email to me afterward: Hey Dan, Thanks for the support at the Open. Sorry I completely forgot to reply to your last email. I flew overnight on Saturday and completely forgot to respond. I was so upset after the Millot match that I rushed off and booked a flight and got straight out of NY. I hope you had a good time at Q's! I feel for Klein. Even the coach who was helping him out at the Open was not his personal coach, but just a coach with the British Tennis Federation. He didn't even really know Brydan's game. That's tough.
catherine · September 20, 2017 at 3:34 am
Scoop – Do you mean Lawn Tennis Association ?
(or maybe there is a BTF and I hadn’t noticed)
Why would an LTA coach be helping Klein ?
Dan Markowitz · September 20, 2017 at 4:49 am
Dan Markowitz writes:
Yes he was with the LTA, I think, and it's Dan, Catherine. It's just like a USTA coach helping an American player. Klein obviously doesn't rank high enough to have his own LTA coach, the way a Tiafoe has his own USTA coach, but since Klein was playing in the Open qualis and there was an LTA coach available, he coached Klein during that match.
catherine · September 20, 2017 at 7:52 am
Sorry Dan, I was thinking about something Scoop wrote.
I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t know Klein was British – I don’t take that much interest in British tennis, never have, and press mention of anyone other than the Murrays Konta or Watson is rare. Yes, the LTA coach would be quite normal in that case. I wonder if Klein could afford a personal coach. Not sure how the LTA works on that now.
Tournament note – SS in Tokyo for Pliskova, Muguruza and Someone Else. Muguruza took it out of poor Puig – 6-0 2nd set.
Hartt · September 20, 2017 at 8:50 am
I did not see any of the matches, but I am allowed to say her name – Kerber won 7-6, 6-3 over the young Russian Kasatkina. Someone on another site said Karber played very well.
catherine · September 20, 2017 at 10:08 am
Hartt – yes, very pleased with that result because Kasatkina had beaten her twice before. So 2 coaches and ‘play one point at a time’ seems to be working 🙂
Next up is Pliskova so maybe exit K but she should feel more confident now and she is a much better mover than Karolina.
Duke Carnoustie · September 20, 2017 at 8:42 pm
Kevin King has moved up 181 spots since last week and won his first match in Columbus. Another great run this week and he can crack the top 200. I never heard of him.
Duke Carnoustie · September 20, 2017 at 8:45 pm
Interesting that Kim started the year ranked in the 800s and has mostly been playing futures, twice losing to Eubanks in third-set breakers in a semifinal and final. Kim has won a lot of matches this year but has yet to get into a main draw at the ATP level. He missed most of last year with a hip injury.
catherine · September 21, 2017 at 3:06 am
Hartt – I’ve watched K’s match and what was encouraging about it was how she came back from 0-3 down after just 9 mins. Shows a confident mindset and now not thinking ahead about losing – lots of players do that and they’re gone.
catherine · September 22, 2017 at 3:58 am
Kerber reborn – 2 coaches bt no coach in 2.
catherine · September 22, 2017 at 4:06 am
And Dan, I don’t care what you say, you’d have to have a heart of stone not to be cheered seeing Angie doing well at the end of her wretched year.
Scoop Malinowski · September 22, 2017 at 9:01 am
Scoop Malinowski writes:
kerber not doing well, she's doing what we expect her to do. She just had a major slump of poor substandard results. But it is nice to see her back at the level or near the level that she is capable of. Now she has ample incentive to show the world the real Kerber again.
catherine · September 22, 2017 at 12:01 pm
Angie’s quote: ‘I’ve learned a lot from this year, how to have the pressure and get used to it’. In other words, say no to distracting activities and stay away from stuff which doesn’t come naturally to you.
Kerber’s situation isn’t unique – it’s a lesson I suppose to anyone who suddenly gets the fame and attention and isn’t ready for it and maybe doesn’t quite understand enough about themselves to cope with that situation and carry on performing. Barbara Rittner was totally right about Angie.
Laver Cup – don’t know what anyone else feels but it leaves me cold. Just another made up competition which cuts into the tournament year. Black courts ? Do me a favour. I should think there’s a lot of money involved there though. But views of Prague look nice.
Joke of the year – Nastase is becoming a diplomat 🙂
Hartt · September 22, 2017 at 12:48 pm
I am watching the Laver Cup matches and it has been some terrific tennis. Team Europe won the first two, but they were very competitive matches, with the guys playing their hearts out. Next up is Sascha vs Shapo.
catherine · September 22, 2017 at 12:59 pm
Hartt – yes, I accept that it’s good tennis but I can’t help feeling it’s just really another exho. No coverage of it here at all.
Will it survive as a regular competition ? Time will tell.
Europe to us is what you might call a moveable concept. And Murray’s not playing.
Hartt · September 22, 2017 at 2:20 pm
Then people are missing out on some incredible tennis. There is excellent TV coverage around the world. My sports channel is giving it wall-to-wall (or should it be ball-to-ball) coverage. The stadium in Prague, which holds 17,000, was sold out immediately. They had a lovely tribute to Rod Laver.
I think the future of Laver Cup is pretty secure.
Scoop Malinowski · September 22, 2017 at 2:25 pm
Scoop Malinowski writes:
Catherine; I have not seen any of Laver Cup yet but I can say Hopman Cup and IPTL are two excellent events and two of my favorites believe it or not. And they are not just silly exos, they are serious. I saw Hewitt yelling comeons at full intensity in his IPTL doubles match two years ago. I love the team aspect and seeing the team chemistry and the mix of retired vets blending with the current ATP WTA players. The tennis is seriously competitive enough. These players always want to win once the match starts. I'm sure Laver Cup will be a big hit and a lot of fun. Mardy Fish got into it pretty heated this year in WTT with Donald Young, Rick Leach and Rajeev Ram, and Paes and McEnroe butted heads a few years ago. Even WTT is seriously intense at times. Exos have a bad rap of being just for fun jokes but that is a #fakenews myth.
catherine · September 22, 2017 at 2:27 pm
Hartt – I meant press coverage. Without that lots of casual tennis followers wouldn’t even know it was being played.
Still – you may well be right and the event will survive.
catherine · September 22, 2017 at 2:53 pm
Scoop – I know exos can be fun etc but I do wonder how much tennis can be crammed into one year. The same sort of thing is happening to cricket to the detriment of the longer forms of the game. But maybe tastes have changed.
I’ve seen some of these events come and go – I don’t know – maybe I just prefer the ‘narrative’ of the regular circuit. That’s where you get characters developing.
Just a personal preference.
Hartt · September 22, 2017 at 3:47 pm
I agree with Scoop, I enjoy Hopman Cup, etc. I think Laver Cup also will be very successful. So far every set has gone to a TB and one match went to a super TB. The players are taking it very seriously, giving their absolute best. And we have not even seen Rafa or Fed yet. Rafa is due to play next, in doubles with Berdych against Sock/Kyrgios. That should be a fun match.
If there has not been a lot of press coverage in Britain, I expect there will be a lot of coverage in other places after today.
Hartt · September 22, 2017 at 6:08 pm
Team World, Kyrgios and Sock, won the doubles over Team Europe – Rafa and Berdy. As you might expect, Jack was the most skilled doubles player, although Rafa made things interesting in the last 2 sets, which went to a TB and then a match TB.
I was curious about press coverage and actually there is good coverage in the British media, including the press and TV stations.
Anyway, if the high quality play continues over the next 2 days, the Laver Cup will do very well. The 2 captains are contracted for another 2 years, but I imagine the tourney will last well beyond that.
Scoop Malinowski · September 22, 2017 at 6:40 pm
Scoop Malinowski writes:
Catherine; The players love the team aspects of IPTL and WTT. And this Laver Cup. Kiki Bertens smiled all through IPTL and she is s stone face during the tour season. I mentioned this to her in Miami and she and her coach Ramon Sluiter laughed about it and agreed. I think the players really relax and enjoy these team exo and the fans love it and see a different side of the players, the fun side but also they still play incredible tennis in the light atmosphere, perhaps they play even better in a way. IPTL and Hopman proved to me that team exos are really special for the players and it would not be a mistake to create more of such events. Instead of the same old same old. Especially at the year end post US Open when the Tours are tired and drained and the only thing left that really matters is the race to no. 1.
jg · September 22, 2017 at 6:59 pm
Amazing how close the Laver cup matches are, in the singles all tie breakers, except one set. Isner and Tiafoe had their chances as did Shapovolov, I suspect tomorrow will be close as well. Is Borg saying anything on the sideline?
Scoop Malinowski · September 22, 2017 at 7:13 pm
Scoop Malinowski writes:
jg: Are you alluding there is some carrying going on? 🙂 A bunch of 62 63s would be an event killer.
Hartt · September 22, 2017 at 9:38 pm
Scoop, I think it is more that the guys are playing their hearts out, they are not making it easy for the opponents to get a win.
catherine · September 23, 2017 at 1:55 am
Hartt – there are no reports in the Guardian and Simon Briggs did a couple of stories in the Telegraph and that’s the only online press I saw. I don’t watch TV. So I wouldn’t call it good coverage. I would wonder about events like the Laver Cup if the star players don’t turn up.
Scoop – I think we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one. Major tournaments are the backbone of the sport and we’d soon get sick of fun events if there were more of them. How would we know who the top players are ? Of course the players enjoy them. There’s no pressure. You’d end up with prizes for all and honour for none.
catherine · September 23, 2017 at 2:54 am
Meanwhile back in the regular world – Tokyo got the final they probably didn’t want – Wozniaki and Pav and missed the final they probably did – Muguruza v Kerber. Both bizarre matches. Garbine 0-6 final set.
dan markowitz · September 23, 2017 at 5:45 am
To tell you the truth, Catherine, I haven’t been much aware of Kerber’s rise. I’m just not much of an Angie watcher and the matches shown on TC have all been men. I too like the Laver Cup and the novelty of it. I thought the doubles yesterday between Scok/Nick v Rafa/Berdy was real good. I enjoy seeming Mac and Borg on the bench except Borg is not really into it it seems.
Interesting how Fed seems to be closest to Enquist who’s Borg’s asst. coach than any of the other Euro players. Kokkanaikis who I guess is a practice player, is the most animated guy on the World bench which is a lot younger than the Euros and has been doing some wacky almost break dance celebrations.
I think Sock should go Bryan Brothers and retire as a singles player and become a doubles specialist. The guy is a really good doubles player, can probably win many slams as a doubles player, while he’s never going to sniff one as a singles player.
I’m getting into the competitive aspect of it and its too bad Del Po pulled out because maybe the World would’ve captured a singles match on Day 1. As for the Laver’s Cup over-cramming the schedule, it’s just a weekend event and what, you think Roger would’ve played St. Pete’s or Metz instead?
catherine · September 23, 2017 at 6:15 am
Dan – I didn’t imagine for a moment you’d be following Angie’s mini-rise which came to a full stop yesterday anyway. I was just pre-empting.
Not sure why I don’t embrace Laver Cup. Maybe I’m just not a fun person 🙂 or the idea of ‘Europe’ means very little here since we’re doing our best to leave it asap. Or I feel there’s something made-up about it. Lots of fans seem to be enjoying it all nevertheless.
Hartt · September 23, 2017 at 7:07 am
So today at Laver Cup we get Fed against Querrey, Rafa against Jack, Berdy vs. Kyrgios and Fed/Rafa vs. Sock/Querrey.
Dan Markowitz · September 23, 2017 at 7:37 am
Delicious lineup. Tell me, Catherine, how do you follow tennis if you don’t watch tv? Do you watch matches on the internet? How can one be so interested in the sport if you don’t watch matches either live or on tv?
catherine · September 23, 2017 at 9:02 am
Dan – it’s possible to live without tv – I have since the mid-90s. I follow tennis as much as I want to via the internet and Youtube and from my experience in the past. I don’t comment on matches I haven’t seen or read about or other aspects I haven’t any knowledge of.
(Youtube is something I wish had been around in my day)
It’s also quite expensive subscribing to sports channels here. Only a few sports events are free to air now which is different obviously from the past when Paris, W’don and the USO showed the later rounds on the BBC. Also domestic tournaments.
I did watch a lot of tv in the 70s and the 80s but I begsn to feel at one point that I’d seen a lot of it before and I probably had. Just wasn’t worth the licence fee. (I got fined twice for not paying and then thought enough’s enough )
catherine · September 23, 2017 at 11:56 am
Garbine Muguruza should dump her coach and hire Conchita Martinez who is currently unemployed.