Giron Finding His Groove With Savannah Success

Marcos Giron has grasped his wild card opportunity at the $75,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Savannah by booking a quarter-final place to continue his rebuilding process.

The 23 year old had double hip surgery at the beginning of 2016 and was forced to endure 10 months on the sidelines. However, in Savannah, Giron has rediscovered his groove. He knocked out top seed Darian King in commanding style 6-4, 6-0, before ousting last week’s champion in Tallahassee Blaz Rola 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.

“It feels good. Overall I’ve been feeling good about my game and I’ve had chances to go far in Dallas and San Francisco,” said Giron. “I feel like a lot of these guys I competed against through juniors and college. I know I can play with them and beat them, it’s just a matter of doing it. I’ve been going for my shots, I’m now trusting my game.”

Rola defeated Giron en route to lifting the trophy in Tallahhassee and the American revealed it was satisfying to gain revenge on the clay of Savannah as he seeks a maiden ATP Challenger Tour semi-final.

“Oh definitely. Especially knowing that last week he was sharper than me, but then he went onto win the tournament,”added Giron. “It feels good that he’s playing solid tennis and I beat him. Darian (King) is near the Top 100 in the world (No. 108) and then I beat Rola. It’s a good start but I want to keep going.”

The 2014 NCAA Champion at UCLA believes his extended absence from the court in 2016 could become a blessing. “The 10 months out last season enabled me to spend some time at home, to reassess everything,” said Giron. “Obviously I want to do well, but I want to play a full year being healthy as a professional player and not just watching on from the sidelines. Since my injuries, I’ve been a lot more diligent with my mobility, stretching and strength conditioning.”

Giron, who reached a sixth ATP Challenger Tour quarter-final in Savannah, has been on quite a journey since his breakout in 2014, but he remains patient in his pursuit of rising up the Emirates ATP Rankings.

“I got to play John Isner as a wild card on Arthur Ashe Stadium (losing in straight sets) at the 2014 US Open, which was really cool,” explained the World No. 410. “I also got to be a Davis Cup hitting partner, so it was a pretty great start. Unfortunately the results didn’t initially follow, I’ve had a few injuries, so I’ve been back playing futures and Challengers.

“I’m glad I took the time to go to college and then I had surgery, so everybody has their own timeline. I haven’t had as much success as I’d like, but it’s tough, everybody’s pretty good. Everybody is looking for that transition up to the ATP World Tour. I think anybody can win on any week and it comes down to who converts their chances.”

Despite falling in the early stages of qualifying on the ATP World Tour at the BNP Paribas Open and at the Delray Beach Open earlier this season, Giron is determined to learn from the experiences.

“They didn’t go as I’d have liked, but it was great to see the top pros in action, to see what they do,” added the Californian. “Being in that atmosphere was pretty cool, everybody wants to play on the ATP World Tour and hopefully tournaments like this (Savannah) can be building blocks to that.”