American Tennys Sandgren playing at Indian Wells this week for what could be last time
Tennys Sandgren arrived at the ATP Southern California Open this week to play on the iconic hardcourts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden for what could be the final time.
The 32-year-old American, who first played in the Coachella Valley as a junior as far back as when the Easter Bowl was held at Rancho Las Palmas and Monterey country clubs, said that this could be it. Following two trips to the Australian Open quarterfinals, where it once took Roger Federer five sets to keep him out of the semis, this could be the end of the road for his professional tennis career.
“I’m going to give this year and see if I can get my ranking up,” said Sandgren, who began this week ranked No. 266 in the world. “If not, I’ll probably call it a day.”
On Tuesday, Sandgren lost his first match at the Southern California Open to wild card Trevor Svajda in two tiebreaks after winning the first set, 6-0. He remains in Indian Wells in the doubles competition.
Matches for the event and parking at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden is free and open to the public for the remainder of the event, which runs through Sunday.
As the likes of Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe lead a strong group of American men into the 2024 season, their emergence has pushed some established veterans in the game out. Sandgren is among them.
Sandgren spoke to The Desert Sun earlier this week, before his single loss, about where he stands in his career and what the start to this season means.
“I’m two or three weeks away from feeling like I’m in a good place,” Sandgren said Monday. “So, it’s always kind of right there, which adds to the disappointment if it doesn’t go well because you could’ve made headway.”
Sandgren has played in the BNP Paribas Open main draw four times, in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022. He was invited to play in qualifiers last year but lost his second match.
He peaked at No. 41 in the world, a year after reaching the 2018 Australian Open quarterfinal in his main draw debut at the grand slam event. In Melbourne, he beat eighth-ranked Stan Wawrinka, then fifth-ranked Dominic Thiem before losing to Hyeon Chung for a chance to play in what would have been a major semifinal.
Then, in New Zealand to start the 2019 season, Sandgren won the Auckland Open during a year of mixed results for the Tennessee native.
In 2020, before the tennis tour shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sandgren won four matches, which included wins over eighth-ranked Matteo Berrettini and 12th-ranked Fabio Fognini, before falling to third-ranked Federer.
The inconsistency of the schedule, mixed with various injuries to his knees, back and shoulders, and inconsistent results sent Sandgren into a freefall in the world rankings. He played in the main draw of all four grand slams in 2021 but has not played in any of them since.
“It’s a brutal game,” Sandgren said. “I just got back from a three-week trip to Thailand. That was a mixed bag of results. I played well, but guys are good. Every week is an opportunity. Every week for triumph or disappointment.”
Sandgren said that he has aspirations outside of tennis. He said that he’d like to have a family with children one day, and that playing on the tour, not guaranteed a spot in the big tournaments and therefore not promised a lucrative season, makes that particularly challenging.
But he’s now healthy, he said, and he feels good that he can still hang on the court with the young crop of American men who’ve risen in the game in recent years. So, there’s reasons to keep playing, as long as the results warrant it, he said.
“My January into the spring has been good,” Sandgren said. “So, we’ll see.”
Still, whether he’ll continue playing professional tennis beyond this year is anyone’s guess. His results in the early part of the year, and whether he gets into and plays well at the BNP Paribas Open here in March could very much play into making that determination.
That’ll help him decide if he will continue to live a life on the World Tour.
“It’s easier as a single guy,” Sandgren said. “To travel around, live out of your suitcase, make hardly any money. At this point in my life, it’s been a great time, it’s been a great thing. But it’s not a sustainable way to live at this point, to be playing challengers. I either need to get through them or put my rackets in the closet.”
Andrew John covers tennis and other sports for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Tennys Sandgren among ATP veterans affected by emergence of rising generation
