After his ball hit the net and rolled over on the other side for a winner in the third set tie-breaker that decided the Brydan Klein v Vincent Millot match, Klein turned to me sitting near his baseline and said, “I’ve had three of those today. I got to win this.”The Aussie-turned-Brit meant that he’d had three balls clip the net and roll over for winners against Millot on this hot and virtually wind-less day, but Klein just could not find the knock out punch to put the small, but sturdy Frenchman away. By the time the breaker began, a crowd had begun to form around Court 6 where Klein and Millot were battling with everything they had in their skill boxes, psyches and souls. Or as one fan put it, to fully take in the “Brydan Klein experience.” (Klein is a character. He was mostly well-behaved today, but at one point he pointed into the crowd at a fan who made noise during a point and put his his fingers to his lips and gave him a “shushing” sound. Another time, he told the French contingent rooting for Millot that a shot the Frenchman hit was just out, and Klein showed them how far almost like he felt bad for them).
Earlier in the day, on Court 5, the Canadian Denis, Shapovalov, beat the American Denis, Kudla, in three sets and even though the sun was beating down relentlessly, a good crowd assembled to see the flashy 18-year-old and he did not disappoint. On a nearby practice court, Tsonga was dueling with Berdych, but most eyes were riveted on the new blond on tour, Shapovlov and he was just too strong for Kudla. Apparently, Brad Gilbert has said that Canadian Denis has the best lefty serve of a relatively modest height lefty since John McEnroe, but it was his ability to hit forehands on the dead run and his movement that impressed me most. Later in the day, I saw Shapovalov back on the practice court working on smacking short balls with his whip-like forehand as his coach, Martin Laurendeau, who was dressed in what looked like a white tunic, obligingly played the opponent stooge.
After Shapovalov on Court 5, I stayed and watched Noah Rubin and the young American got rifled by the German Tobias Kamke, who to me always looks like one of those Germans from old World War II movies with his slicked-back hair and his Teutonic air. Maybe Rubin is rusty, but his forehand much like Stefan Kozlov’s, who lost later in the day also on Court 5, going from 4-2 up in the first set to 6-4, 5-0 down, is just not a fearsome shot. The only American to win on Court 5 today was Bradly Klahn who beat an Austrian when there was another Austrian, Sebastian Ofner on Court 6, who lost a very tight match against the exciting, Akira Santillan, who’s 20 and has a nice one-handed backhand and dyed neon blonde hair even though he’s of Japanese descent and from Brisbane. You know a guy is good when his opponent’s coach, Ofner’s, tells you the guy was born in ’97 and has a lot of talent. Still, Santillan took an injury timeout or just an exhausted and heat-prostrated time out right before Ofner’s serve at 4-all in the third set and then again a game later. He promptly came back to break Ofner and serve out the match. The Austrian refused to shake hands with the Aussie and when a fan derided Santillan for his stall tactic, Santillan yelled up at the spectator, “You couldn’t last one game out here.”
It was hot and at the USTA National Center there is very little covered ground. Klein at one point told me he was suffering from vertigo during his match, “And I’m playing at the US Open,” he emphasized showing how disappointed he was. But he fought right till the end and at 6-5 in the breaker, serving, he had a chance to close out Millot, who had a group of Frenchman watching his match, including Benoit Paire, but Millot hit a deep ball that caught Klein as he tried to run around his backhand again and he sliced a forehand into the net.
My 11-year-old son at that point, said to me, “What’s he’s slicing it there?” And then later, “What is life?” It was one of those matches and long hot days watching the US Open Qualis. We stayed from 11 am to 7 pm and we met even Troy Hahn, who was coaching Kudla and trying to implore him to take down the no. 67 Shapovalov. Kudla couldn’t do it, but Hahn said he liked the format where coaches could talk and give directives during the match instead of walking out and talking to their charge during a changeover, like on the WTA Tour.
Klein looked for more info than any player, getting very conversational within the 25-second shot clock time to talk with the ITF coach assigned him, James Trotman or something or other, who said since he wasn’t Klein’s individual coach, he was just trying to give him helpful advice like where to place his serve and not overload him. But it was in the end, to no avail for Klein who when he hit a forehand long and wide to end the match in Millot’s favor (the Frenchman has now beaten Klein three times this summer in the Mexico and Montreal Qualis too), fell to a heap on the baseline with his hands draped over his head. Millot yelled up at his countryman and pointed to his head. At the net, Klein couldn’t look at Millot when he shook hands and then he marched off the court and in the direction of the plaza instead of the locker room with his Head bag slung over his shoulder. I wanted to run him down and tell him he’d played a courageous and well-fought match, but just then Felix Augur-Alliassime walked by followed by Laurendeau, who I guess coaches both Felix and Denis (talk about a hot coach). At first I thought Felix was Michael Mmoh who’d I’d seen hitting next to Richard Gasquet when I first walked onto the grounds, but then I saw that Felix while maybe a little taller than Mmoh is not a bulky.
I let Klein go on his little walkabout as I sized up Augur-Alliassime. He seemed to have a nice gait and a humble manner to him and I realized that Klein, while 27 and playing his 15th slam Qualifying Tournament, must be thinking if he there’s a future for him in the game, players like Felix and Shapovalov aren’t looking to be journeyman, even here in the Qualis, they’re feeling out what it’s like to be a possible star in the making and leaving the Qualis far behind soon.
