Tennys Sandgren went home after his quarter-final knockout. At the Australian Open against South Korea’s Hyeon Chung (4:6,6:7,3:6), the media were attacked by the American, accusing the journalists in a memorable press conference.
From Ulrike Weinrich from Melbourne
Tenny’s Sandgren came into the windowless press conference room with the impressive video screens with a serious face. But the American did not want to talk about tennis after his quarter-finals at the Australian Open. It’s more about Tenny, who in his opinion is so very different than many people see him. With a handful of followers and some tweets on Twitter, my fate is sealed in your heads,”Sandgren read from the display.
The 26-year-old had to concentrate visibly and seemed nervous. In contrast to his great victories against former Melbourne Champion Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland/No. 9) or the Austrian Dominic Thiem (No. 5) in the days before. Sandgren, an avowed Christian from the state of Tennessee, accused the astonished journalists:”You prefer propaganda machines instead of exploring information from different angles and perspectives.”
Or:”You simply dehumanize it with pen and paper and incite neighbors against neighbours. When you do this, you will soon realize how you are speeding up the hell you don’t want – and that we all want to avoid” The World Rankings-97. At the end of his statement, he stated:”I want to be the best I can be and embody the love that Christ has for me. After the monologue lasting several minutes, Sandgren only allowed sporty questions to be asked.
After his surprising successes in Melbourne Park, all the activities of this sturdy college player had been scrutinized. Of course also his Twitter profile. Sandgren, for example, follows his compatriot Nicholas Fuentes, a proven nationalist. He was once responsible for a podcast called “America First”.
The confessing Donald Trump supporter Sandgren, however, did not want to let himself be pushed into the right corner after the coup against Thiem and emphasized at the press conference on Monday:”It doesn’t matter who you follow on Twitter. The things you see don’t determine what you think or believe. The accusation that he sympathizes with the radical right-wing spectrum, however, he only wanted to weaken it to some extent. Although Sandgren stated that he was not a supporter of the so-called Alt Right movement, he also said:”I find some of the content interesting, but more importantly, he was a” devout Christian “and followed Christ.
From a purely sporting point of view, Sandgren’s march through the Happy Slam is impressive. He failed in 13 attempts to qualify for a major tournament. Sang “, the nickname of the passionate video player, 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 Wawrinka 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 described the “Tennies surprise”, whose Swedish great-grandfather already had this first name, as “pretty cool”. In 2014 Sandgren’s career was still in great danger due to a hip injury. Just under four years later, the American has now made his breakthrough on the big stage – with all its side effects!