Zachary Svajda was two years old when he first started playing tennis. He would volley a balloon back and forth in the living room with his father Tom to make an early start on developing hand-eye coordination skills. The California native soon transitioned to a court, where he enjoyed riding the ball mower to pick up the court full of balls he had just hit.

As Svajda grew older, his family decided to set him on a unique junior path. From ages 10 to nearly 15, he did not play any tournaments. Instead, the goal was to finetune his game as much as possible.

“We were just thinking about it as I got to be nine, 10 years old, we just didn’t really see a point of playing these junior tournaments every week,” Svajda told ATPTour.com. “We just tried to focus on getting better. I know it’s different because tournament play is always different from practice.

“We also couldn’t afford to travel around the world playing ITFs or anything. We were like, ‘Let’s just take a different route and let’s just try to get better every day and hopefully by 15, 16 I’d be a good player and get those matches from there.’”

The 20-year-old Svajda has always been surrounded by a strong support crew, including his mother Anita and father Tom, who works as a teaching pro at Pacific Beach Tennis Club in San Diego.

Many coaches might stress the importance of point play and competing in pressure moments at a young age to gain experience. The Svajda family had a solution for that too. Former University of San Diego star Uros Petronijevic lived with the Svajdas for two years. Petronijevic, an ITA All-American who graduated college in 2016, and Svajda would often play practice matches.

“Obviously it’s a little different than practice, but I would say that’s how I got my point play every day. We were doing a lot of practice matches,” Svajda said.

Taking his own path has paid off for Svajda, who twice won the USTA Boys’ 18s National Championships in Kalamazoo (2019, 2021). The American has since been climbing the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and is in position to crack the Top 200 for the first time Monday.

Svajda’s younger brother Trevor, three years his junior, took the same approach by not playing junior tournaments for several years and has since found early success. In August, the 17-year-old was a finalist in Kalamazoo and competed in US Open qualifying, which Zach advanced through to make the main draw in New York.

“I [tell him], ‘Don’t think about me, you have your own route. Whatever that is, don’t stress about anything,’” Svajda said. “In Kalamazoo, he was kind of nervous and he was like, ‘I feel like I should win it because you did twice.’ I told him, ‘Dude, it doesn’t matter if you lose the first or second round, I still love you the same, doesn’t matter. Try to go out there with no pressure at all.’ Sure enough he made the final, which was great.”

Watch the clean-hitting Svajda play and you will find the 5’9” star does not show emotion on court. If you did not know the score of the match, it would be hard to tell by watching Svajda’s body language.

“Every match, if I’m winning or losing or if it’s a really good day or bad day, I’ll always just have that same demeanour where I don’t get frustrated at all really,” Svajda said. “I think just as a kid I was always quiet on and off the court, almost in a shy way. I guess it kind of translated over to the tennis side.

“I don’t yell, ‘Come on!’ or don’t do much of that. I’m trying to work on showing a little bit more positive energy but it will take some time because I’m not fully used to it. I just like to stay calm and present, move on to the next point… I’m from San Diego so I’m kind of chill, laid back. Nothing really stresses me out. I always just try to stay calm. I can’t remember the last time I raised my voice.”

Seeded eighth at this week’s ATP Challenger Tour event in Cary, North Carolina, Svajda earned his maiden title at that level last October in his home state of California, where he beat Ben Shelton in the final. Svajda has continued to grow since that triumph.

“I definitely have had ups and downs after the win in Tiburon last year but I think now I’m stronger. I’ve also played many more matches this year,” Svajda said. “I qualified for a few ATP Tour events now, so I see improvements for sure. I would say I’m stronger and more match tough.”

Svajda will next be in action Thursday when he faces Great Britain’s Toby Samuel in the Atlantic Tire Championships quarter-finals.

Down match point in the opening round of this week’s ATP Challenger Tour event in Cary, North Carolina, 19-year-old Alex Michelsen survived a lung-busting rally at 6/7 in the second-set tie-break before letting out a loud roar.

Michelsen was on the ropes of defeat to Frenchman Maxime Janvier, but the American held his nerve to survive 5-7, 7-6(7), 6-3 after two hours, 18 minutes. Though it was a tight, heavy-hitting battle, the teenager appeared calm, cool and collected. On the inside, Michelsen’s fiery competitive spirit came alive alongside a methodical approach to turn the match around.

“I just told myself, ‘Keep calm and try to make as many balls as you can and hopefully he’ll give you some mistakes,’” Michelsen told ATPTour.com. “And then he gave me a couple and that was all I needed to get back in the match. I played a very good point to save match point and then I just found a way, so it was good.”

The California native raced through the third set and post match went to cool down in the gym, where he was riding a stationary bike while playing Clash Royale on his phone. Currently eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Jeddah, Michelsen’s determination to be the best goes beyond tennis.

“I’m competitive in everything, like when I play video games. I was just born that way. Sometimes it can probably be annoying for some of us,” Michelsen said.

“I’m so competitive in ping pong. When I was at the US Open, I played probably 45 games of ping pong with Learner Tien. He got me, he beat me by like two or three games in the series. We played so much ping pong.”

A native of Laguna Hills, California, Michelsen is one of the fastest rising stars in the sport. This time last year, he was No. 1,015 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Michelsen has risen to a career-high World No. 117 on the back of a breakout season in which he made the final at the ATP 250 event in Newport.

In August, the #NextGenATP star announced he would forgo his college eligibility at the University of Georgia and instead turn pro. A memorable moment soon followed when he earned his maiden major main-draw victory at the US Open.

Despite the quick success at a young age, Michelsen is not getting caught up in his potential.

“It is pretty easy for me to focus on the day-to-day. My coaches always tell me, ‘If you put in the work, then you’ll end up higher than others,’” Michelsen said. “Yes there is potential, but it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t put in the work every day. I just try to keep my head down and keep that up for as many years as I can.”

Perhaps even a better sign for Michelsen’s coaches, Eric Diaz and Jay Leavitt, at the Tier 1 Performance Academy in Laguna Niguel, California, is the fact that the American works hard and enjoys doing so.

“Nothing’s better than the grind. ‘You gotta love the grind’, I tell myself all the time,” Michelsen said. “Because if you don’t love it, then being on the tennis tour really sucks if you don’t love the grind, but thankfully I do.”

Alex Michelsen in action Tuesday at the Atlantic Tire Championships.” />
^{Alex Michelsen in action Tuesday at the Atlantic Tire Championships. Credit: Alexis Galloway}

Michelsen’s strong work ethic comes especially in handy when he is deep into a five-hour training session.

“When you’re on hour four, four-and-a-half hours on court, it’s like you have to push the extra 30 minutes, you have to push it,” Michelsen said. “Sometimes you have motivation, sometimes you don’t. But it’s not about motivation, it’s about discipline. And you have to have that every day.”

The second seed, who in July won his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title in Chicago, will next meet American qualifier Strong Kirchheimer in the second round of the Atlantic Tire Championships on Wednesday.

Jiri Lehecka guided Czech Republic to victory in its opening Group C tie against Spain on Wednesday in the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage.

The 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals runner-up earned a 7-6(5), 7-5 win against Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Valencia to give his nation an unassailable 2-0 lead. Lehecka struck the ball fearlessly throughout the one-hour, 55-minute clash, firing 25 winners to improve to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Davidovich Fokina.

Earlier, Tomas Machac had moved Czech Republic ahead when he beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 35 minutes. The World No. 119 has now won five of the six Davis Cup singles matches he has played.

Czech Republic, a three-time champion, are aiming to reach the Final 8 for the first time since 2016.

United States & Croatia Level
In Group D action, The United States and Croatia are level at 1-1, with a decisive doubles rubber set to decide the tie.

American Mackenzie McDonald had given his nation an early lead when he defeated Dino Prizmic 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 37 minutes.

Croatian Borna Gojo then levelled the tie, earning the biggest win of his career by Pepperstone ATP Ranking when he overcame World No. 11 Frances Tiafoe 6-4, 7-6(6). Gojo has been in red-hot form recently, advancing to the fourth round at a major for the first time at the US Open.

Croatia is aiming to reach the quarter-finals in the Davis Cup for the third consecutive year. The United States is chasing its first Davis Cup Finals title since 2007, when it won its 32nd.

The countries will compete across four groups in four cities — Group A in Bologna, Group B in Manchester, Group C in Valencia and Group D in Split — with the top two countries per group to qualify for the knockout stage in two months.

Daniel Evans clinched a vital three-set victory for Great Britain on Wednesday in the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage in Manchester.

The World No. 27 edged past Australian Alex de Minaur 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 to give his country a 2-0 lead in its Group B tie. Evans, who is competing in his 23rd Davis Cup tie for Great Britain, the joint fifth highest in his countries history, broke De Minaur’s serve five times to advance after two hours and 10 minutes.

Earlier, Jack Draper earned victory for Great Britain on his Davis Cup debut, downing Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-6(4).

The 21-year-old lefty rallied from a break down in the third set, clawing back to 5-5 before he sealed his two-hour, 54-minute win with a backhand winner in the tie-break. Draper reached the fourth round at the US Open earlier this month.

Great Britain and Australia are joined in Group B by France and Switzerland. France defeated Switzerland 3-0 in its opening tie on Tuesday.

Canada Upsets Italy
Defending champion Canada also triumphed, defeating Italy in Group A in Bologna.

In the opening match of the tie, World No. 200 Alexis Galarneau upset Lorenzo Sonego 7-6(10), 6-4. The 24-year-old saved two set points in the first set en route to his win.

Gabriel Diallo then sealed the win, beating Lorenzo Musetti 7-5, 6-4 in his second Davis Cup singles match. The 21-year-old hit 10 aces and did not face a break point to earn victory against the World No. 18 after 84 minutes.

This week 16 countries are competing in the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage from Tuesday through Sunday in the hopes of reaching the Final 8 in November in Malaga.

The countries will compete across four groups in four cities — Group A in Bologna, Group B in Manchester, Group C in Valencia and Group D in Split — with the top two countries per group to qualify for the knockout stage in two months.

Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop delivered for The Netherlands on Tuesday in Split, where they earned a decisive Group D Davis Cup Final Group Stage doubles win against Finland’s Harri Heliovaara and Patrik Niklas-Salminen 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3.

The Dutchmen did not face a break point in the two-hour, seven-minute clash, sealing a 2-1 win for their nation. The Netherlands is aiming to reach the quarter-finals for only the second time since 2005.

Earlier, Otto Virtanen had given Finland a 1-0 lead after he downed Botic van de Zandschulp 7-6(0), 6-4 in one hour and 38 minutes. The World No. 125 has now won four of the eight Davis Cup singles matches he has played.

Tallon Griekspoor then levelled the tie, defeating Finn Emil Ruusuvuori 7-6(7), 6-3 in one hour and 46 minutes. World No. 24 Griekspoor saved one set point in the first set at 6/7. He then broke twice in the second set to triumph.

Chile Defeat Sweden
Chile also moved to 1-0 in Davis Cup Finals Group Stage action.

Cristian Garin clawed past Leo Borg 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-5 in the first match of the day in Bologna to give Chile a lead in its Group A tie against Sweden.

Garin, who made his Davis Cup debut aged 16 in 2012, battled hard in the two-hour, 36-minute clash. He fired 17 aces and won 78 per cent (62/79) of his first-serve points to defeat debutant Borg.

World No. 22 Nicolas Jarry then sealed victory for Chile with a 6-2, 6-4 triumph against Elias Ymer. Jarry has enjoyed a career-best season on the ATP Tour, lifting trophies in Santiago and Geneva. Tomas Barrios Vera and Alejandro Tabilo sealed a 3-0 win for Chile, defeating Filip Bergevi and Andre Goransson 6-4, 7-5.

This week 16 countries are competing in the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage from Tuesday through Sunday in the hopes of reaching the Final 8 in November in Malaga.

The countries will compete across four groups in four cities — Group A in Bologna, Group B in Manchester, Group C in Valencia and Group D in Split — with the top two countries per group to qualify for the knockout stage in two months.