Brady hoping for long stay at U.S. Open
Before the 2017 Australian Open, Jennifer Brady had never played a Grand Slam tournament main draw match and had won two WTA Tour-level encounters in her career.
Amazingly, Brady made the most of qualifying at the Australian Open in January, reaching the second week at a major in her debut. It was in Melbourne that she posted her best win to date, upsetting then 18th-ranked Elena Vesnina of Russia to move into the fourth round.
“Before Australia, I just wanted to qualify at a Grand Slam,” she said. “That was my first step.”
Brady, who also made her debut in the French Open and Wimbledon this year, falling in the first round in Paris and in the second round in London, appears to be channeling her success in Australia int this U.S. Open.
After failed attempts to qualify at the U.S. Open the last three years, 91st-ranked Brady was a direct entry into this year’s main draw. Once again, she seems to be taking advantage of the opportunity and is headed to the third round.
Brady required only 56 min-
utes to pummel 25th-seeded Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-1 Thursday in the second round.
Unlike at the Australian Open, where she made the rookie mistake of not booking her hotel stay for long enough — she had to keep extending the reservation on a daily basis — Brady showed more self-confidence heading to New York.
“Well, the hotel is booked until (Sept. 6),” she said, laughing.
Brady won more than double the total points of Strycova — 56 to 26 to be exact. The Czech star, who only held serve once, in the sixth game of the first set, said Brady took control of the match from the outset.
“It was just not my day today,” Strycova said. “I came on court, but nothing was working — nothing. I knew that she could play very big tennis and tennis that bothers me. She used all her weapons to not let me in the match.”
Brady streamlined her assessment of the match, saying with a big smile, “Yeah, I was kind of steamrolling.”
Born in Harrisburg, Pa., the Brady family moved to South Florida when Jennifer was about 9, not specifically to facilitate her tennis, but it worked out to be an advantage.
The 22-year-old spent her formative years training at the Evert Tennis Academy, where she occasionally would interact with the retired superstar.
“I was very privileged to train at the academy and have her there,” she said. “When I was younger, she hit with us. It was a lot of fun. I think it’s just you have the honor to know that somebody who is a legend in the game knows who I am and supports me and believes in me.”
A prudent personality, Brady wasn’t the type of youngster to rush onto the pro tour with fingers crossed, hoping luck would fall her way.
Instead, Brady chose a twoyear stint at UCLA, where, playing second on the team in her freshman season, she helped the school to a second NCAA championship title. The Bruins coach is Stella Sampras, sister of Pete, and Brady remembers the 14-time Grand Slam champion occasionally visiting campus.
“Those two years were pretty crucial for me,” she said of attending college. “You know, if I were to do the whole process again, I would still do what I did and go back to UCLA. I learned a lot off court, just learning how to be on my own.
“I was at an academy for basically my whole life when I played tennis,” she added. “I had the same schedule every single day. Nothing outside of that changed. So it was good to have a change. I learned a lot off court and on court.”
Brady will face Monica Niculescu in the next round in the hopes of reaching her second Grand Slam fourth round this year. Niculescu defeated fellow Romanian Ana Bogdan 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in a second-round outing Thursday.
But Brady knows what she’d like to do in New York if she has downtime.
“I haven’t done anything touristy yet,” she said. “Hopefully I can. I would like to see a play. Yeah, I heard that Wicked and the Book of Mormon is good.”
But the Broadway experience will have to wait, because Brady is still starring as one of the players in contention in the U.S. Open.