STIR THE POT
American making run at Aussie and ruffling feathers at home
He’s making American men’s tennis great again — or at least trying to.
Tennys Sandgren, the Tennessee-born Trump supporter, continued his unheralded run at the Australian Open on Monday, beating fifth-seeded Dominic Thiem 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-7 (9), 6-3 to reach the men’s quarterfinals, a shocking feat considering he entered tournament play with a 2-8 all-time ATP Tour record. And while the rest of American men’s tennis continued its self-destruction in Melbourne, Sandgren defeated a slew of talented players to get to the final eight which included a hobbled, but still lethal, ninth-seeded — and Grand Slam champion — Stan Wawrinka, along with Jeremy Chardy and talented German Maximilian Marterer, all who are ranked higher than the No. 97 Sandgren.
Prior to his Aussie Open run, Sandgren’s best win came against a hobbled Nick Kyrgios in the Washington Open last August, but considering just how poorly Kyrgios played in the summer, it was a win to take with a grain of salt.
Sandgren credits his 2018 success to his newly found calmness, something he’s had trouble with in the past.
“I’ve been able to keep my emotions under control, which is a big deal because I can be an emotional person. That doesn’t go well with tennis, especially with a three-out-of-five-set match. You don’t have energy to waste on emotions,” he said following the Thiem win.
Prior to the start of the Grand Slam calendar, Americans such as Jack Sock would have been pegged to reach this level of success, but instead it’s Sandgren, who admitted that 16 months ago he was chugging beers at a bar watching Wawrinka win the US Open in 2016.
Before becoming the first American to reach the quarters of the Australian Open since Andy Roddick in 2010, perhaps Sandgren was best known for his political hot takes on Twitter. He’s tweeted some questionable opinions, including a lengthy thread in which he beefed with Ryan Harrison and former U.S. star James Blake about NFL national anthem protests and police brutality.
Sandgren, who has retweeted members of the Alt-Right, didn’t seem worried about his Twitter habits.
“I mean, no. I’m not concerned about it,” Sandgren said as a public relations official tried to move on to the next question. “It’s fine, it’s fine. Look, who you follow on Twitter I feel like doesn’t matter even a little bit. What information you see doesn’t dictate what you think or believe. I think it’s crazy to think that. I think it’s crazy to assume that, to say, ‘Oh well he’s following X person so he believes all the things that this person believes.’ I think that’s ridiculous.”
As for those who suggest that he supports any farright movements, Sandgren denied that notion.
“I find some of the content interesting,” he said. “But no, I don’t, not at all. As a firm Christian, I don’t support things like that, no.”
In the quarterfinals, he’ll play Heyeon Chung on Wednesday, who upset sixtime Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets. For Sandgren, he just wants to continue living the dream.
“I definitely had a real pinch-me moment. If I wake up now, I’m going to be real upset,” he said.