Following a great week last week where I bagged my first ATP Challenger Tour title in Cary North Carolina, I’d like to fill you in on the story behind what is a milestone moment in my career.

It’s funny how it all came about but I wasn’t even meant to be playing Cary Challenger! Just a few weeks before, I had qualified into the Winston-Salem ATP World Tour 250 event and it was there that I chose to play three events in China next. I went online to enter three events (Nanchang Challenger, Kaohsiung Challenger and an ATP event in China) and called a friend who coaches in Singapore to see if he could help out one of the weeks in China. He agreed and I went straight into making travel plans, hotel bookings and preparing all the logistics behind the trip. The final thing to sort out was applying for a Chinese Visa and I’d be set. ”Easy” I thought..

A week after applying for my Visa and going through all the administrative details of paperwork, invitation letters, head shots etc. I woke up to a phone call from the Chinese lady I spoke to at the Visa Office. ”Uh, sorry sir but your Visa has been rejected.” I thought she was actually joking as she sort of laughed as she said it but after 20 minutes of questions and answers, I came to learn that there was a G20 Summit in China at the time and apparently the Chinese Consulate in Houston was rejecting applications for foreigner Visas. The timing couldn’t have been worse and there was nothing I could do about it.

Challenger Chronicles I: Amir Weintraub
Challenger Chronicles II: Skupski Brothers
Challenger Chronicles III: Jason Jung

Thankfully, I still had the option of playing a different tournament that week so I decided to sign-in to play the qualifying of Cary Challenger. It was just a six-hour road trip up from Atlanta so myself and my friend Julian Bradley rented a car and headed up there Thursday morning.

I was the first seed in the qualifying event and played my first match on Saturday afternoon on Stadium Court in Cary. I struggled with the feel of the ball and the court surface at first but knew I could work my way into it. I came through my qualifying matches after playing three current and former college tennis players and drew another former college tennis player in the first round of the main draw, Evan King. Evan is a great guy with a big lefty serve and I managed to come through that match, although neither of us played our best tennis on the day. I went on to beat the No. 6 seed, Darian King followed by a quarter-final win over Brayden Schnur, who had some local support as he is a former UNC Tar Heel.

Read the rest of James’ entry on his blog

How does it feel to be standing here with the trophy, your first ATP World Tour title?
It’s great at such a young age as well. It’s something that I could only dream of and I’m really proud of myself right now.

Did you ever imagine that at the age of 19 you’d be an ATP World Tour winner?
I got to a few finals where I was really close but before when I was a kid, no I could have not imagined that. It’s something really special to be here and getting this trophy for the first time.

Was it your dream growing up to win a title?
Of course. I think for anybody who plays tennis, it’s a dream to win a tour title.

Did you go into this final with a different mindset compared to your past two in Nice and Halle?
In Nice, I was quite tired. I think I spent 12 hours on court before that final. I played three-set matches every single match I played. But Halle was a chance that I could have taken and won the final. But the mindset has to be the same. How I handle the situation is different now because I had those two finals before.

How does it feel to be the first teenage winner on the tour since Marin Cilic in 2008?
Really? I’m the first one. Wow. No, it’s great. As I said winning a tour title was always a dream and now it came true and being the first since ’08, it’s great.

Does it make it special to have beaten two Top 10 players along the way, back-to-back?
Oh yeah it’s definitely something special, beating Tomas Berdych in the semis and beating Stan Wawrinka, who’s the US Open champion, in the final. It’s something even more that I’m proud of.

You didn’t lose a set en route to the final. Talk about your exceptional play and what you did well this week.
I played OK. I played pretty well. I was serving pretty good the whole week, which helps on a fast court, indoors. And I was pretty good, pretty solid from the baseline. Obviously I had a few tough opponents but yeah, I was happy with the way I played.

Read More: ATP Launches “Next Generation” Campaign

Now that you’ve won your first title, have you thought about what’s next, your next goals?
Winning another one hopefully.

You and Nick Kyrgios are the first #NextGen players to win an ATP World Tour title this season. Talk about this young group of future stars.
As I said before there’s a strong group of guys coming up who all play pretty good tennis. You mention Nick, who’s Top 20 now. He’s been playing exceptional this year. Other teenagers like Taylor Fritz or Borna Coric, they’ve been playing pretty good. Some Russian guys are coming through quite well as well, like Karen Khachanov, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev. They’ve all been playing quite good tennis this year.

Lastly, when you were growing up, who were the players you followed most closely?
Roger. Quite simple.

How does it feel to win your first ATP World Tour title in Metz?

“I’m very happy. It’s a big honour to win my first ATP World Tour title in France, in front of family and friends. It’s even more special to win when they are here, since I can share the happiness with all of them. Winning a title is something I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid watching tennis on television. I’ve played to win since I was young so this one means a lot.”

What did you do differently this time, compared to your first final in Bucharest?

“This time I knew what time the match was starting, since in Bucharest it was raining quite a bit and the match had to be postponed. Today I did all I could to play my game and to go for that first title.”

What did you do well during the week to win the title?

“I had some difficult moments, down break points or set points. But I never let up and that helped me win the title.”

You beat the top two seeds, No. 1 Dominic Thiem in the final and No. 2 David Goffin in the semi-finals. How were you able to put together those big wins?

“I’ve had wins in the past against those two players. I was feeling well physically and mentally so I knew that if I gave 100 per cent, I had a chance to win.”

Which players did you admire and pattern your game after?

“Growing up I admired Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. I didn’t copy the way they played, but I tried to emulate their attitude on the court and their mental strength.”

Did you have a goal for the end of the season?

“I would love to end the year in the Top 16 [of the Emirates ATP Rankings], so that I can have a good seeding at the Australian Open.”

What have you improved this season to break into the Top 20?

“I’ve changed the way I worked off the court to be better prepared physically. All the little changes clicked for me in Miami, and since then I’ve been a different player.”

Who would you like to acknowledge for helping you to your first title?

“I wouldn’t be here today without the help of my coach Emmanuel Planque. He’s the person I would most like to thank for my career to date.”

#NextGen star Alexander Zverev claimed his first ATP World Tour title on Sunday, knocking off US Open champion Stan Wawrinka and ending the teenage title drought on the ATP World Tour.

The 19 year old Zverev withstood a late charge from Wawrinka to win the St. Petersburg Open final 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in two hours and 23 minutes. The Hamburg native had been 0-2 in his previous finals this season and in his career (l. to Mayer at Halle; l. to Thiem at Nice).

“This victory is something special,” Zverev said. “I played all the finals well. I lost to Dominic Thiem on clay and I could have won against Florian Mayer on the grass… Now I’m very happy with the win, especially over such a great player like Stan.”

The upset ends two winning streaks for Wawrinka: His finals streak, which ends at 11 and started in January 2014 with a victory against Edouard Roger-Vasselin in Chennai. The win also snaps Wawrinka’s overall win streak at 10, dating back to his first-round match at the US Open.

“We showed high-quality tennis,” Wawrinka said. “I was struggling in the third set. I had chances but I didn’t manage to convert them. He deserved the win.”

Zverev had lost his previous finals in three sets, and he looked out of it in the early goings of Sunday’s third set as well. Wawrinka was up a break at 3-0 and had grabbed control of the match by forcing the 6’6″ Zverev to chase balls all over the court – up, back and from side to side – by using a variety of slice and topspin.

But Zverev, the 2015 ATP Star Of Tomorrow presented by Emirates, crawled back into the final. The two were tied at 5-all and in the midst of a 21-shot baseline rally when Wawrinka blasted a forehand wide to give the German his fourth and final break. Heading into Sunday, Wawrinka had won 28 consecutive service games and erased all eight break points faced in St. Petersburg.

“In the third set, I had the initiative and played slice to his left more. I tried to neutralize his massive backhand,” Zverev said.

Serving for the match, Zverev stepped up to the line with confidence and sealed the title with a forehand winner. He’s the first teenage titlist on the ATP World Tour since 19 year old Marin Cilic won New Haven in 2008.

In beating World No. 3 Wawrinka in the final and World No. 9 Tomas Berdych in the semi-final, Zverev also becomes the first player to win his maiden ATP World Tour title by defeating back-to-back Top 10 opponents since Albert Portas won the 2001 Hamburg crown (d. No. 7 Hewitt in semi-final; d. No. 6 Ferrero in final).

Zverev will receive 250 Emirates ATP Rankings points and $163,485. He’ll also match a career high of No. 24 in the new Emirates ATP Rankings. Wawrinka will receive 150 Emirates ATP Rankings points and $86,100.

Dominic Inglot and Henri Kontinen saved a match point and captured their first ATP World Tour title together on Sunday at the St. Petersburg Open. The Brit and Fin improved to a perfect 4-0 together by prevailing against German Andre Begemann and Indian Leander Paes 4-6, 6-3, 12-10 to win the ATP World Tour 250 doubles crown.

The comeback in the final marked the third match of the tournament in which Inglot/Kontinen fought back from a set down. They cut their margins especially close against Begemann/Paes, who had not dropped a set before Sunday and were playing in their second ATP World Tour final of the season after falling at the Winston-Salem Open in August to Kontinen and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Begemann/Paes held a match point at 9-8 in the match tie-break and appeared to have won the final before Inglot/Kontinen challenged an out call. The call was overturned and the point was replayed. Defending a match point for a second time, Inglot/Kontinen took no chances as Kontinen smashed a forehand overhead that landed well inside the lines. A few minutes later, he delivered a service winner to give them their first team title.

Kontinen, who won the St. Petersburg Open title last season with Treat Huey, becomes the first player to win back-to-back doubles titles in St. Petersburg since Andrei Olhovskiy, who won titles in 1996 with Yevgeny Kafelnikov and in 1997 with Brett Steven. The 26-year-old Kontinen has now won five ATP World Tour doubles titles this season and 11 for his career.

Inglot claims his second ATP World Tour title of the season after winning in Nottingham with Canadian Daniel Nestor. The 30-year-old Brit now has six for his career. He and Kontinen will receive 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split $49,660.

Paes/Begemann were going for their first ATP World Tour title together. Begemann falls to 4-5 in ATP World Tour doubles finals. Paes was trying to win an ATP World Tour doubles title for the 20^th consecutive year. The 43 year old, who is now 55-41 in doubles finals, has won at least one ATP World Tour doubles title since 1997. He and Begemann will receive 150 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split $26,110.