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ATP Challenger Eckental: Anderson's successor is getting better

Lloyd Harris belongs to player names in men's tennis, which you can already reserve for the upcoming season. The 22-year-old South African is playing his best year ever in the professional circus and beats this week on the hunt for his second title in 2019 at the ATP Challenger in Eckental, Bavaria.

by Florian Heer
last edit: Nov 02, 2019, 09:06 am

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Lloyd Harris, South African number two
© Florian Heer
Lloyd Harris, South African number two

By Florian Heer from Eckental

"It was a good season," said Harris after his quarter-final success in three sets against the strong Slovak Lukas Lacko, who was successful two weeks ago at the carpet tournament in Ismaning.

"There were ups and downs. Good but difficult months. At the French Open, I made it to the second round. A special match was the appearance in Wimbledon against Roger Federer. I had played well and worked out a few chances. In addition, I was able to reach my first semi-final on the ATP Tour in Chengdu. Those were probably my highlights and key experiences of the year. "

Harris, who is currently ranked 103th in the ATP world rankings but also in the top 100, was in all the main fields of the Grand Slam tournaments. "The Australian Open was especially nice. I felt very comfortable there. If I had to decide on a slam after my first year, then my choice would fall on Melbourne, "said the curly head from Cape Town.

Start at the ATP Cup

The new season will start Harris down under. The young star is number two in his country after Kevin Anderson and is expected to represent South Africa at the ATP Cup in January.

"I promise a lot from the event. There was a certain hype surrounding the event. There will be many big names at the start and you can expect a strong competition. It's an exciting way to start the new season even before the Australian Open, "said Harris.

Tennis in South Africa on the upswing again

Asked about tennis in his home country, where no ATP Tour event or ATP Challenger tournament is currently taking place, Harris hopes for improvement. "I feel that tennis in South Africa is experiencing a kind of revival. Sport has had a hard time in recent years. There used to be a lot of international events. This has also been reflected in the results and there were many world class players from South Africa. More than today. Slowly but surely more efforts are being made to develop sport in the country. Kevin Anderson, Raven Klaasen and I are trying to be role models. We try to show the kids in the country that the way to professional tennis is possible. We continue to look for young people who may someday follow in our footsteps. "

2020 as a career milestone

And Harris himself still has many years to go on the tour. For the time being, however, the upward trend is still to be confirmed for the time being. "I've played my first full year on the ATP tour now. This season I used to get used to the top level, to get a foot in the door. Especially in the last months I have been able to call my best game. I'm looking forward to building on it next year. I got a lot of self-confidence, gained experience in the Grand Slams and will prepare as well as possible for 2020. It's going to be an important year in my career. "

by Florian Heer

Saturday
Nov 02, 2019, 09:55 am
last edit: Nov 02, 2019, 09:06 am