1. Bradley Klahn Took Up Tennis At Age Of 11
His mom, Nancy, played collegiate tennis at the University of Iowa, but she never pushed her three children into the sport. Klahn played baseball, basketball and soccer before starting tennis at 11 years of age.

“As soon as I picked it up, all the others started getting weeded out pretty quickly,” he said. “I just really liked the individual aspect of it. I just kinda fell in love with competing in the tournaments and having the pressure be on me and seeing if I could problem solve on court. Figuring out ways to win is always really exciting for me.”

2. Post-Surgery Set Up With Future Fiancée
Klahn recently got engaged to Abbie Hageman, and enlisted the help of his family for the proposal. He had his mom, dad and brother come up from San Diego under the guise of taking Klahn and Hageman out to dinner in Malibu. They planned on taking a walk on the beach beforehand, and he popped the question there. He had one more surprise for Hagemann, as her best friend and husband joined them at dinner to celebrate the occasion.

“She had no idea,” said Klahn. “It was also a little funny because she was stressing out about my parents seeing our new apartment, so she was running around. I’m trying to get her to get ready and look nice so we can go to the beach. Five minutes before we’re supposed to head out the door, she’s shoving boxes into closets and making sure the apartment’s presentable.”

They’ve been together for a little over three years, and were set up by a doctor at UCLA, whose family Klahn was staying with following surgery. Hageman, currently in his fourth year at UCLA medical school, worked as a research coordinator for the doctor at the time. “He was paging her in the middle of work and telling her that she needed to look me up, and would she go on a date with me. The rest has taken care of itself.”

Klahn and Hageman are looking to get married next year, possibly in the spring, before she starts residency.

3. Graduated From Stanford University
Klahn attended Stanford University and considered forgoing his final two years after winning the 2010 NCAA singles title as a sophomore. In the end, he made the decision to stay. “I thought I’d regret it more if I left early as opposed to sticking it out and getting my degree,” he said.

He now considers receiving his economics degree as one of his proudest accomplishments. “My parents always pushed education for me. I’m very thankful they did, as well,” he said. “I loved school, I loved everything about school: the social life, the going to school, challenging my mind, still being able to play tennis at a great university. A lot of the friends I made there are life-long friends for me.”

Klahn, who trains in Carson, still enjoys going back to Stanford to watch football games in the fall and to see all his friends in San Francisco.

4. Brother Has Pilot License
Klahn has two younger siblings, Kathryn and Bryan, who also attended school in the Bay Area, at Santa Clara University.  His sister lives in San Francisco and works for Cisco. His brother used to be an accountant, but recently got his pilot license and has been accepted into the National Guard.

“Quite the career change for him, but he’s always had a love of aviation and flying. I’m really excited for him to pursue a passion that he loves just as much as I love tennis,” said Klahn.

“I just love everything about the sport, the action. I don’t think there’s anything like watching hockey live, especially playoff hockey,” said Klahn. “That’s probably the one sport where my brother and I, during the season, wherever I am, I’m finding a way to stream the game. It doesn’t matter what hour of the day it is. We’re always getting some text message throughout, going back and forth about it.”

“Sometimes one, two, three matches, it can really turn it around for you again. If you stay compact, stay smart and do the right things you just never known when the tables might turn for you.”

Grigor Dimitrov said that before his Rogers Cup began on Tuesday, but the Bulgarian, who was in the midst of a 2-6 stretch, hopes those words turn out to be prescient for him this North American hard-court swing.

The World No. 5 came back to beat Spain’s Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(5) in Toronto. Their second-round match was suspended because of rain at 4-4 in the third set for two and a half hours.

But Dimitrov came out ready to put his recent past with Verdasco behind him. The reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion saw a match point come and go on Verdasco’s serve at 4-5, 30/40 when the Bulgarian netted a backhand. But Dimitrov stayed on it and won an epic 35-shot match point.

Watch Dimitrov’s Epic 35-Shot Match Point

The two had met twice earlier this year, with Verdasco winning both – a three-setter at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and a straight-sets win at Roland Garros.

But Dimitrov, who hasn’t reached a quarter-final since April at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, evened their FedEx ATP Head2Head series at 3-3. He will next meet #NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe or Canadian Milos Raonic.

Tiafoe earned his 23^rd match win of the season by beating Roland Garros semi-finalist Marco Cecchinato of Italy 7-6(3), 6-1. The American saved eight of nine break points to beat No. 21 Cecchinato, who is in 12^th place in the ATP Race To London.

“Solid performance for me. I got broken, a slow start, but I competed well, got the break back, played a pretty good match overall, held all the way through, pretty one-sided in the breaker. Second set was pretty one-sided all the way through, so I was pretty comfortable,” said Tiafoe, who won his maiden ATP World Tour title in February at the Delray Beach Open.

“[My confidence is] pretty high. I’ve won a lot of matches this year… definitely the most I’ve ever won at the ATP [level]. This has been one of the best years of my life… I can beat anyone.”

The 20-year-old right-hander is currently in fifth place in the ATP Race To Milan, which will determine seven of the eight players who qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 6-10 November in Milan. The eighth spot will be reserved for the winner of an all-Italian qualifier tournament to be held just prior to the prestigious 21-and-under event. Last year, Tiafoe missed making his Milan debut by one place.

“I think I’ve got some pretty good length between the guys under me, so I’m feeling pretty good that I’ll make it. I missed it by one last year, so that hurt,” Tiafoe said.

Robin Haase, 2017 semi-finalist (l. to Federer), dismissed Japan’s Kei Nishikori 7-5, 6-1. Haase dominated on serve, winning 57 per cent of his second-serve points and saving four of five break points. The Dutchman will next meet third seed Juan Martin del Potro.

Read More: Del Potro Embracing ‘Second Chance’ In Toronto

Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus picked up crucial points in the ATP Doubles Race To London on Tuesday, beating New Zealand’s Artem Sitak and Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4 at the Rogers Cup in Toronto.

Klaasen/Venus are in sixth place in the Race with the top eight teams qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held 11-18 November at The O2 in London. The South African/Kiwi pairing will next face fifth seeds Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo.

Elsewhere, Croatian Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya of Austria dropped only four games against Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Aussie Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 6-2, and Americans Sam Querrey/Rajeev Ram didn’t face a break point during their 7-6(4), 6-3 victory against Italian Marco Cecchinato/Bosnian Damir Dzumhur.

After a four-year absence, Juan Martin del Potro made his return to Rogers Cup action in 2017 ranked just outside the Top 30 in the ATP Rankings. One year on from his second-round loss to #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov, the Argentine makes just his second appearance in Toronto, as World No. 4, in fine form.

But three years ago, Del Potro was not sure if he would ever return to Toronto after considering retirement as he struggled to deal with a serious wrist injury. The Tower of Tandil contested just four tour-level matches in 2015 before injury forced him to miss almost a year of competition.

”I considered [retirement] three years ago… because I had been suffering a lot… I was depressed for a couple of months because I couldn’t find a way to fix the wrist problems,” said Del Potro. “But now you can imagine how happy I am playing tennis again, being in the Top 5 again, after a long time, winning titles and playing my best tennis ever, maybe.

”I’m having one of my best seasons this year and it’s amazing. I never expected to be in this moment again after all my problems, so I just want to keep enjoying this second chance of the tennis life.”

Despite early losses in recent campaigns, Del Potro knows what it takes to make a deep run at the Canadian event. One month prior to lifting the US Open title in 2009, the Argentine defeated two Top 5 players en route to the championship match in Montreal.

”It was one of the best tournaments I’ve played in my career,” said Del Potro. “I remember that I beat Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal, and then I lost against [Andy] Murray in the final, which is a tough draw.

”But now, the situation is completely different. I’m playing good. I’m No. 4 in the [ATP Rankings] and I have a chance to keep improving my ranking this week, but, if not, I will be happy anyway.”

There are signs that the 29-year-old may be ready to replicate his form of nine years ago this week. Del Potro, who occupies the No. 4 spot in both the ATP Rankings and ATP Race to London, arrives in Toronto after contesting his fourth tour-level championship match of the season in Los Cabos (l. to Fognini).

”I think I did well [in Los Cabos],” said Del Potro. “I reached another final in the season, which is good for my year. Fabio played much better than me. He deserved to win.

”But now it is a different tournament, different expectations. I’m looking forward to playing at the same level and see if I can still have good results.”

In his first match since winning his 13th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic began his bid for a fifth Rogers Cup crown with a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over Mirza Basic.

Djokovic hit nine aces and converted three of five break points to overcome the lucky loser in 90 minutes. The Serbian was originally due to face reigning Next Gen ATP Finals titlist Hyeon Chung. But Basic, who fell in the final round of qualifying to American Bradley Klahn, entered the draw after Chung’s withdrawal (back pain).

Djokovic improved to 36-6 at the event and will face wild card Peter Polansky for a place in the third round. The Canadian beat Matthew Ebden of Australia 7-6(3), 6-4 on Monday.

The former World No. 1 looked solid on serve in the opening set, winning 75 per cent of service points to establish a one-set lead. But, despite earning the first break of the second set at 3-3, Djokovic ran into trouble closing out the match.

In the following game, back-to-back double faults opened the door for Basic, who earned his first break of the match with a ripped backhand winner down the line. The pair traded breaks once more at 5-5, after a series of loose errors, to force a tie-break. It was there that Djokovic re-established control and charged to victory.

#NextGenATP Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas also progressed to the second round by exactly the same scoreline as Djokovic, beating Turkish Airlines Open Antalya champion Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 7-6(3).

“I was serving unbelievably today. I felt very comfortable with my serve from the beginning of the match and it played a big role in my game today,” said Tsitsipas. “I managed to win lots of easy points with my serve.”

Tsitsipas landed 11 aces and dropped only five points behind his first serve to book a second-round clash against seventh seed Dominic Thiem. The Austrian and Tsitsipas have already met on four occasions this season, with the Thiem leading their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 3-1.

“I feel pretty high with my [level],” said Tsitsipas. “I feel like I’m around 80-90 per cent. I feel there’s 10 per cent more which I can for sure improve and beat even higher-ranked players.”

Did You Know?
In 2007, Novak Djokovic defeated Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in successive matches to win his maiden Rogers Cup title.

“7/29/18 my best win yet!” Bradley Klahn shared on Instagram ahead of the Rogers Cup, announcing his engagement to Abbie Hageman.

Eight days later, from the beach in Malibu to the tennis courts of Toronto, the 27-year-old American qualifier celebrated another big win. Klahn upset former World No. 3 David Ferrer 7-6(5), 6-4 to record his first main draw win at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.

“It’s my first tournament as a fiancé,” he told ATPWorldTour.com after his match. “It’s been going pretty well.”

By virtue of his victory, Klahn also won the USTA’s US Open Wild Card Challenge, ensuring his place in the main draw of his home Grand Slam for the first time since 2014.

The Stanford graduate had done the maths and knew he had a chance to clinch the US Open wild card during the Rogers Cup. When rain halted play with Klahn leading 6-3 in the first-set tie-break, he killed some time by scrolling through Instagram and saw a comment confirming that a first-round win would be enough to do it.

Facing extra pressure once the match resumed a few hours later, Klahn maintained his composure to go up a set and a break. Though Ferrer got back on serve, Klahn immediately broke back, and two games later, found himself with two match points. Ferrer, the 2012 Rolex Paris Masters champion, saved both chances and a third match point on Klahn’s serve before the American pulled through to complete the 92-minute triumph.

“It was a huge win for me today, beating a guy of his calibre,” said Klahn. “It’s a big step for me, just the career he’s had. I have so much respect and admiration for the way he goes about it and his tenacity and making you earn every ball from first to last.

“For me to stay with it, especially losing the break there in the second, weathering literally a rain delay and battling through some nerves a little bit there and closing it out, I was really pleased.”

Klahn had reached a high of No. 63 in the ATP Rankings in 2014, but sat on the sidelines from February 2015 to November 2016 as he underwent numerous back surgeries. The California native rose back into the Top 200 in January when he reached the Newport Beach final (l. to Fritz) on the ATP Challenger Tour, and continued his steady climb to enter Toronto at No. 116.

Last month, he qualified for Wimbledon and won his first tour-level match in four years when he beat Yuichi Sugita in the first round. In his next tournament, he won the Challenger title in Gatineau, Canada. Now, Klahn will have a chance to take on No. 2 seed and defending champion Alexander Zverev in the Rogers Cup second round.

“It’s another great opportunity for me,” said Klahn. “I’ve been out on tour for a while, but still some amazing experiences are new for me, playing at this level, feeling more comfortable and getting wins under my belt. I’m really excited to test myself against the best, and Sascha has proven he’s one of the best one now.

“When I was lying in bed, not being able to really do much and wondering if I would play tennis again, these are the moments I kept in mind; to kind of keep that cherry out there to work towards.”