ATP: Karen Khachanov wants to attack the top ten

Late in the 2018 season, Karen Khachanov then still called on his full potential. The 22-year-old Russian could be the next debutant in the top ten of the ATP charts.

Yes, Karen Khachanov showed a strong performance against Rafael Nadal at the US Open, which demanded a lot from the Spaniard for four sets. But not everything, at least in the opinion of Dominic Thiem. The Austrian once said, before his quarter-final against Nadal, that the latter had never been in danger of being eliminated until then. In the match against Thiem, the latter was missing only two points to win.

However, Khachanov saw his encounter with the defending champion as a turnaround, a game in which he proved that he could compete with the best of his profession.

“After a few close defeats against the top players, like Rafa Nadal in New York, who pushed me to the limit and motivated me to train even harder, I saw that I could play at this level,” Khachanov said in an interview a few days ago.

Especially obvious was the Russian’s newly won confidence at the last ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the year in Paris-Bercy, where Khachanov successively defeated Alexander Zverev, Thiem and in the final a slightly tired Novak Djokovic. And with his biggest career triumph he secured the place of the first substitute for the ATP Finals in London, but also owed the absences of Nadal and Juan Martin del Potro.

The prospects of joining the ranks of the ten best tennis professionals in the world for the first time are quite good for Karen Khachanov, especially at the beginning of 2019. Although the 22-year-old has to defend his tournament success in Montpellier at the end of February, Khachanov could catch up to the Bel Etage at the Australian Open. In Melbourne he was already defeated in round two in 2018 del Potro – a horror lot that Khachanov, as the current number eleven in the world, will certainly be spared in a few weeks.