{"id":314819,"date":"2022-09-02T10:27:11","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T17:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/?p=314819"},"modified":"2022-09-02T10:27:11","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T17:27:11","slug":"san-diegos-zach-svajda-still-learning-on-the-pro-tennis-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/san-diegos-zach-svajda-still-learning-on-the-pro-tennis-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego\u2019s Zach Svajda still learning on the pro tennis tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cheap motels and even cheaper cuisine haven\u2019t bothered Zach Svajda that much.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The 19-year-old who grew up smacking balls around Pacific Beach isn\u2019t a high-maintenance kind of kid, so his first full year on the ATP pro tennis tour hasn\u2019t left him wanting for the fancy things.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What has been difficult, as it is for 99 percent of first-year pro players, is the losing. Svajda was previously a top junior who crushed the competition most of the time, and last year at this point he was about to enter the U.S. Open main draw after winning the U.S. National 18s.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

While here 12 months ago he scored a big first-round win, then scared Top 10 stalwart Jannik Sinner before dropping a four-set decision.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a> In 2022, the teenager has played many minor-league (ITF level) pro tournaments, compiling a record of 17-15, and this week at the U.S. Open he reached the second round of the qualifying tournament before losing in three sets to Alexander Ritschard.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For Svajda, now ranked No. 306, the adjustment has been about as tough as expected.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe grind has been rough, but it\u2019s been great going through the learning process,\u201d Svajda said this week at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. \u201cIt\u2019s been a slower start (to my pro career) than I hoped for, but I\u2019ve been playing better lately and this week was a great experience for me.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This week in qualifying was a whole new experience for the baby-faced Svajda; in 2019 and \u201921 he was given a wild card into the main draw after winning the Boys Nationals, and got to play in front of big crowds.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This week there were dozens of spectators and a much different outer court atmosphere.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI told myself it was going to be a lot different, and that I\u2019d have to make myself ready and stay energized without a big crowd,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

That difference was evident in the loss to Ritschard; despite being down a set and a break, Svajda rallied to win the second set with a huge forehand return winner.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But early in the third set, Svajda\u2019s groundstrokes faltered and he lost the final five games and the match to the more-experienced 29-year-old Ritschard. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

David Nainkin, Svajda\u2019s coach and a longtime USTA mentor to players like Sloane Stephens and Taylor Fritz, said he\u2019s pleased with Svajda\u2019s progress even as the wins have been harder to come by.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s worked hard and really developing nicely,\u201d Nainkin said.<\/span><\/span> \u201cHis forehand has gotten stronger this year, as has his serve.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I see is there\u2019s not a huge difference out here between guys like me (ranked 300) and the guys who are 100 or so,\u201d Svajda said. \u201cMy level is right there, it just needs to be upped a little and I need to get more pro matches under my belt. But this was a really positive experience here.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The cheap motels and even cheaper cuisine haven\u2019t bothered Zach Svajda that much. The 19-year-old who grew up smacking balls around Pacific Beach isn\u2019t a high-maintenance kind of kid, so his first full year on the ATP pro tennis tour hasn\u2019t left him wanting for the fancy things. What has been difficult, as it is […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1498,"featured_media":314821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11553","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"The cheap motels and even cheaper cuisine haven\u2019t bothered Zach Svajda that much. The 19-year-old who grew up smacking balls around Pacific Beach isn\u2019t a high-maintenance kind of kid, so his first full year on the ATP pro tennis tour hasn\u2019t left him wanting for the fancy things.","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"3","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[11553],"tags":[12543,12375,14040,14039,14041],"class_list":["post-314819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-pacific-beach","tag-san-diego","tag-u-s-open","tag-usta","tag-zach-svajda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}