After Recent Big Wins, Santillan Feeling Confident About Future

#NextGenATP Akira Santillan feels like now is his time to flourish on the ATP World Tour.

The 20 year old recently earned the biggest victories of his career – winning his first ATP Challenger Tour title earlier this month in Winnetka and claiming his first ATP World Tour win at the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open in Newport (d. Mmoh).

Santillan has also resolved a nagging dilemma that had been weighing on his mind and affecting his play: Which country should he represent?

The right-hander was born in Japan to his South African father, Dean, and his Japanese mother, Harumi. But the family moved to Australia for Akira’s tennis when he was about seven, and Akira lived Down Under until he was about 18. (He trains in Spain now.)

In early 2015, Santillan decided to play under the Japanese flag. But at Wimbledon, he switched his allegiance to Australia.

“My parents live in Australia. My dad has been living in Australia since he was 13, and I’ve been living there since I was seven… For me, I felt more comfortable playing for Australia,” Santillan exclusively told ATPWorldTour.com. “I’ve been thinking about it for at least over a year now… I felt like I needed to make a decision. I can’t be always wondering in my mind who I’m going to play for, so I think that has cleared things up a bit. It lets me play a little bit freer.”

The relaxed feeling helped Santillan experience his milestone wins in Illinois and Rhode Island. Before Winnetka, Santillan had reached three ATP Challenger Tour semi-finals but he had fallen in the third set during all three. They had been close deciders, too: 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

In Illinois, after he took the first set 6-4 against German Matthias Bachinger, Santillan later admitted doubts snuck into his mind.

“I was winning comfortably and then I had a hiccup and I found myself in the third set, and I was thinking about it a little bit again,” Santillan said of his past semi-final losses. “But I got through that… I just focused on my game. I was playing really well so there was no reason to be really tight or anything. I went through, won the third set quite comfortably and then the final was pretty straightforward. I played really well, pretty smart tennis. Overall I was really happy with the tournament.”

At the grass-court tournament in Newport, Santillan’s aggressive game thrived as he earned his first ATP World Tour win during his third attempt. “I played really well, and I’m pretty pleased with myself,” Santillan said.

The right-hander’s game favours such quick surfaces. Santillan tries to play an all-around game, a necessity during this era of tennis that has been dominated by do-everything players Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

“I play pretty aggressive with my forehand… I can play anywhere on the court. I like to come to the net. Change pace on my slice. Use my forehand to dominate play. I think I have a pretty good serve, a pretty big serve,” Santillan said. “You need every weapon that you can get. On the tour nowadays, everyone has a weapon – they can defend, they can attack, they’ve got everything.”

Santillan has other big goals to complete this season. The #NextGenATP Aussie, No. 160 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, would like to crack the Top 100. He’d like to qualify for the US Open, the season’s last Grand Slam tournament.

Santillan also might find his way into the Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 7-11 November in Milan. He is currently in 16^th place in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan, which will determine seven of the eight 21-and-under players who compete at the inaugural event. The eighth player will be chosen by wild card. Santillan is 222 points behind eighth-placed American Jared Donaldson.

“I feel really confident right now with my game. I feel like I’m seeing the ball like a basketball,” Santillan said. “It’s going to be fun and exciting to see how I can do.”

See Who’s Leading The Emirates ATP Race To Milan