Coach Günter Bresnik: "Sascha Shevchenko is an emotional guy"
Alexander Shevchenko is making his debut at an ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid today against John Jeffrey Wolf from the USA. The 22-year-old Russian comes from Günter Bresnik's school.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Apr 26, 2023, 08:34 pm
The current ATP world ranking lists Alexander Shevchenko as number 96, which is a further improvement of two places for the now 22-year-old Russian, who has been coached by Günter Bresnik since he was nine. At that time, the Shevchenko family actually came to Kitzbühel to ski, but then went to Vienna on the recommendation of a Russian fitness trainer who worked for him, where mother Shevchenko and Sascha, who was still small at the time, put down roots.
Alexander Shevchenko became really familiar to a broader fan base last summer: In the first round of the Generali Open in Kitzbühel he was allowed to play against Dominic Thiem, Bresnik's former protégé. Coach Bresnik suspected that this task would (still) be too big for Shevchenko after the draw and then took the pressure off his protégé accordingly.
Now the situation is different: Sascha Shevchenko has already won two Challenger tournaments this year (on Tenerife and in Madrid) and was in the final in Phoenix. The youngster roared through qualifying in Barcelona as well as now in Madrid, where today at 11 a.m. against the American JJ Wolf.
Bresnik: "Played at eye level with Struff in the training camp"
Speaking of Tenerife: "The four weeks of training there in December really brought Sascha a lot," explains Günter Bresnik to tennisnet. "As in the year before, Gael Monfils." The year started with a disappointment. Because against Jan-Lennard Struff, the qualification at the Australian Open ended in round one. "And with Struffi he played on an equal footing in the training camp: once one won a set, once the other. Sascha is an emotional guy. He was very disappointed there.”
In Dubai, Shevchenko almost created a sensation after qualifying again. But Hubert Hurkacz just pulled his head out of the noose in the tie-break of the third set. "Sascha has been scratching the top 100 for a month or two," Bresnik continued. “He has a very, very good first serve. When the odds are right, it's difficult to break. And unless they're really top players, all players will have trouble playing along with him from the baseline. He certainly belongs in the group between 50 and 100. And still has a lot to improve. He goes bravely to the net but completes badly. The second serve isn't satisfactory yet, but the altitude in Madrid is helping him this week."
Shevchenko loses two years due to Corona
What is also missing: the experience. After all, Shevchenko lost two years to Corona. In Madrid, as is often the case, Shevchenko has Angelo Novkovic, a coach from Günter Bresnik's academy, at his side. And Shevchenko has already found a great mentor: Daniil Medvedev. "He invited him to the ATP Cup a year and a half ago." Alexander Shevchenko has also had experience with Andrey Rublev. At the training camp in Tenerife, where else?
So now the first appearance at an ATP Masters 1000 tournament is coming up. Should Shevchenko solve the first task against Wolf, then Jiri Lehecka would face another up-and-coming youngster.
Here the individual tableau in Madrid
madrid map