Scott returns home for tour debut
Aspiring tennis pro aims to make mark on ATP Challenger
The kid from Calgary sports a Texas-size game. Fitting, since that’s where Harrison Scott is honing his skills these days.
Yup, the NCAA Texas Longhorns talent is a big hitter on the tennis court.
And Scott’s brought that bash back to his home city as the lone Calgary native in the main event of the $75,000 Calgary National Bank Challenger, the ATP Challenger Tour event on now at the Osten & Victor Alberta Tennis Centre.
“The ball will be coming pretty hard and moving pretty well, and I’ll be really fighting deep,” said Scott, when asked what fans should expect from him if he’s on his game during the weeklong indoor tennis tournament.
“I don’t really have pressure to do that well, so I’m going to play loose and go for it.”
That begins Tuesday for the 21-year-old National Sport School graduate when he takes on Croatia’s Borna Gojo in afternoon action on the National Bank court. Gojo, ranked 505th in the ATP singles rankings, comes in as one of four players to earn berths from qualifying play over the weekend at the tennis centre, while Harrison makes his first appearance in an ATP Challenger Tour event.
“I just want to go out there and compete my hardest,” said Scott, who’s rated 1,520th worldwide. “It’s my first Challenger, so I don’t have too many expectations. I want to give it my all and play hard.
“I’ll just treat everyone like a regular opponent. A lot of people I’ve seen before. Unless it’s like a guy like (former world No. 5 Tommy) Rebredo or (former world No. 14 Ivo) Karlovic, I think I’ll be OK.”
Scott, a two-time Canadian junior champion, is in his fourth year with the Longhorns, ranked as one of the top U.S. college tennis players.
“It’ll be a different level than he’s accustomed to, but I think he’s going to perform well this week,” said tournament director Danny Da Costa, who doubles as GM of the Osten & Victor Alberta Tennis Centre.
“This a great experience for Harrison. It’s a very unique opportunity to have a Calgarian in this type of an event. Typically, you would see them in the qualifying round, but Harrison is getting a shot (as a Tennis Canada wild card) in the main event.”
The Calgary National Bank Challenger main event features 32 of the world’s most promising male tennis players trying to earn as many points as possible to graduate to the ATP Tour, the sport’s top circuit, where Canadians such as Milos Raonic and Denis Shapovalov ply their trade.
While Harrison hopes one day to make his mark on the ATP Tour, the young Calgarian is first and foremost trying this week to soak up the atmosphere of his maiden voyage on the ATP Challenger circuit in a facility his tennis-savvy father, Glenn (a former Tennis Alberta president), helped bring to life.
“I think it’s really special playing here,” Scott said. “Growing up, we didn’t really have that big of a facility for me to train at. So now having a top-five facility and now having a world-class event here is very special. It’s great for me to be able to compete here in front of people I’ve know for my whole life. I think it’s really good for the tennis community and for Calgary as well.
“I definitely want to win here — the experience is good, too. But I’m going to go for the win for sure.”
I just want to go out there and compete my hardest. It’s my first Challenger, so I don’t have too many expectations.
The weekend saw two University of Calgary Dinos fall from contention in qualifying action of the Calgary National Bank Challenger. Ontario’s Andrew Ochotta lost to Gojo on Saturday, while Manitoba’s Shane Nicholls was eliminated by France’s Vincent Millot, ranked 446th on the planet. Both U of C students are unranked and were awarded Tennis Canada wild card entries into the qualifying round.