I know we’re a couple of weeks late with this one. interviewbut the story of Ivan Gakhov it deserved its cooking time until served properly. Born in Moscow 27 years ago, resident in our country since he was 14 and news in this month of April for his great work in the Monte Carlo Masters 1000. After raising in Girona his first Challenger title, Gakhov surpassed the previous phase in The Principality, later adding his first official victory and later meeting Novak Djokovic. A frantic adventure in just a few days that we bring exclusively to the Break Point channel .
The best month of your life
“I think that all this is like a dream, that it did not really happen. It is true that both my coaches and my girlfriend always believed a lot in me, everything that happened was surprising for me, but not for them. It’s like they always thought it was a matter of time before something like this happened, although I certainly didn’t expect it.”
late success
“People who reach the top 50 before the age of 24 are people who have never made mistakes, have not wasted time, always had the right environment and the necessary financial support, as well as being very talented and doing a great job. They have not been lazy during that stage, which is why they are where they are. But right now there are a lot of people fighting to be professional, no matter how much we look at Alcaraz, Sinner or Aliassime, behind us we have hundreds of guys who make the same effort but can’t even pass the Qualy of a Futures. I made many mistakes in my life, my family had no experience with sports either, so I was wrong many times choosing the paths in my career.
psychological aspect
“On a mental level I have grown a lot since I worked with Miguel Sánchez, he forces me a lot, he pushes me to the limit in games. I have always considered myself a tennis player who knows how to do everything, but if you ask me what I do best, I wouldn’t know how to answer. And if you ask me what’s wrong with me, I couldn’t answer you either. Now we have focused on some aspects to work on, now I am clearer about what I have to do on the track, where I have to play, this ends up generating more confidence in myself”.
His first Challenger, the turning point
“Winning a tournament, with so many tough matches, has always cost me a lot on an emotional level, it was difficult for me to manage everything that happens at those levels. In Girona I didn’t face the best, but it was still a very tough tournament, there were five games in six days at a very high level. That’s where I realized I was capable of doing it. Before I already saw myself capable of competing against a good rival, but doing it for a whole week was a pending account, this gave me extra confidence”.
The Russian Ivan Gakhov (26 years old) is the first champion of the ATP Challenger 75 in Girona after the injury to Gastao Elías in the third set (5-7, 6-4, Ret)
— His first Challenger title pushes him into the top200 for the first time. pic.twitter.com/jT6acLOE1G
— Fernando Murciego (@fermurciego) April 2, 2023
Monte Carlo debut
“My girlfriend had always told me that the tournament she wanted to visit the most was Monte Carlo, precisely the most difficult box to access, because it is such a small box compared to the other Masters 1000. I was lucky not to get tense with the stage It rarely happens to me, although the atmosphere of the event is impressive, I’m not used to seeing things like this. We went to have a good time and enjoy the weekend, but since I was there the objective was to give my best”.
Match with Djokovic
“It is always said that it is bad to think too much, but there are moments when it is impossible to avoid it. The night before Miguel Sánchez came because I was super tense, with all due respect and love to my girlfriend, I needed a little more help. We talked about how to tactically approach the match, although the most important thing was the mental factor. When he left he was very tense, but he also knew that Novak was not going to play that match as if it were a Grand Slam final. He had much more experience and I had nothing to lose, the only bad thing is that I couldn’t get rid of that tension at any time, I don’t know if it was due to fatigue or because I was Novak, but I ended up lacking oxygen”.
The celebration
“We decided to order some pizzas because dinner at the hotel was too expensive, and they also gave all the players a bottle of champagne, although I don’t like it very much either. I wasn’t used to uploading a video and having it go viral, but hey, I think it was funny, I didn’t do anything wrong by eating pizza with your wife in the hotel bathtub. I even got a little shy knowing that everyone had seen it.”
— — When you manage to go on a tiebreak with your idol Djokovic and decide to celebrate with pizza and champagne!
Props to Ivan Gakhov. —pic.twitter.com/CS1iYLX3YF
— Betclic Portugal — (@BetclicPortugal) April 12, 2023
economic boost
“With this week I have secured the Qualy of Roland Garros, so it is all good news. There is a big difference between a guy who is #280 and does not play Grand Slam qualifiers to a guy who is #220 and does play them, in the end the money is in those tournaments, although this season the prize money of the Challengers, because what was paid was not normal. Years ago, it was much better to win an ITF 25,000 than to make the semifinals in a Challenger, you earned more money with the former. Now with Girona and Monte Carlo I have been able to give a financial push to cover expenses with the members of my team”.
no clothing sponsor
“People think that I don’t have money to buy clothes, it’s not that either, but I did have a contract with Lotto for many years and that’s why I have things left. Last year I trained with Andrey Rublev and asked him for some clothes, right now I’m wearing a Daniil Medvedev sweatshirt. It’s not that I’m a rat (laughs), but if they can give me something for being very good friends, then perfect. If tomorrow I have to go buy ten shirts to play and another ten to train, it wouldn’t be a problem either. Now I’m wearing Lotto wristbands, Asics shoes and Andrey’s Nike clothes”.
the ghost of retreat
I have thought about it many times, especially in the years of COVID, where I had a finger injury. But as soon as I had that thought, I immediately contradicted myself thinking that later in two months I was going to regret not having tried until the end, I wouldn’t be happy with those mental problems. I knew that I still had the capacity to do it, so little by little I have been improving, although I went through critical moments where I was not able to compete even in a 15,000. I didn’t really know what I was doing, the coaches saw me in those tournaments and they didn’t understand anything. Now I feel like I have a lot of time ahead of me.”
special tattoo
“I did it with my sister a few years ago. We were in Moscow and we decided to do something together to remember, in fact it was her idea, she thought of the molecule of happiness and chose to do it on her neck. Someone told me not in the neck, that later I would have problems working at the Bank or in the government, but I never saw myself working in those places. The truth is that I like it a lot, there was never a day that I would rather not have it”.
2023-04-25 21:00:16
#Novak #Djokovic #lacked #oxygen
