“No Name” Tennys Sandgren has already caused some surprises at the Australian Open. But the quarter-finalist from the USA has to fight hard outside the court. On Wednesday Sandgren will play Hyeon Chung from South Korea in a duel between the outsiders.
From Ulrike Weinrich from Melbourne
Tennys Sandgren’s biggest worry was first of all Mama Lia. The good woman had a broken rib and a bump on her head in the far away Tennessee, cheering over one of his son’s surprising victories at the Australian Open.”She fell on the table. Whoops! It was really worrying,”said the 26-year-old:” I’m glad she was treated in the hospital.
However, it was not the only thing that has probably kept the surprise quarter-finalists from the USA busy in recent days. Sandgren, the No. 97 in the ATP ranking, has moved into the limelight with his fantastic series of successes Down Under. Which always means that suddenly the protagonists’ activities outside the court are also scrutinized. For example, in terms of social media. And that’s why the hefty college player came under fire after his 6-2,4-6,7-6,7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (7-9) and 6-3 defeats in the last sixteen against fifth seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria.
The reason: the Twitter profile of Sandgren, who follows his fellow countryman Nicholas Fuentes, a proven nationalist. He was once responsible for a podcast called “America First”. The tennis pro, however, did not want to be pushed into the right-hand corner after the Thiem triumph at the press conference:”It doesn’t matter who you follow on Twitter,”asserted the confessing Donald Trump voter Sandgren, saying:”The things you see don’t determine what you think or believe. It’s crazy to assume that kind of thing.” Period.”
However, the 26-year-old’s accusation that he was sympathetic to the radical right-wing spectrum was only partially dispelled. While the passionate video player Sandgren explained that he is not a supporter of the so-called Alt Right movement, he also said:”I find some of the content interesting, but more importantly, he is a” devout Christian “and follows Christ.
The next day, about 2000 tweets were deleted from Sandgren’s account. If the right-hander from Gallatin, whose first name Tennys was already worn by his Swedish-born great-grandfather, wins against Djokovic conqueror Hyeon Chung (South Korea) on Wednesday and enters the semi-finals in Melbourne, the next interesting round of questions would be opened.
From a purely sporting point of view, the march through Sandgren is impressive. He failed in 13 attempts to qualify for a major tournament. His nickname “Sang”made it into the main field of the French Open and US Open 2017 only with wildcards. After his first ever victory in a Grand Slam, the Melbourne debutant eliminated former tournament winner Stan Wawrinka (no. 9) in the second round. After a knee operation, however, the Swiss was not yet the old “Stan, the Man”again.
His lucky streak Down Under describes the “Tennies surprise” as “pretty cool”. Sandgren’s career was still severely endangered due to a hip injury in 2014. Just under four years later, the American has now made his breakthrough on the big stage – with all its side effects!