Jesse Witten toiled in the tennis minors for five years, in out of the way locales like Brownsville, Tex., at tournaments that didn’t have ball boys, let alone fresh cans of balls, just to win $1,200 at most.
He tried qualifying for the United States Open, but was unsuccessful 10 out of 11 times. At the beginning of this year, when a software security company from his hometown of Naples dropped its sponsorship of him, Witten even considered quitting the sport.
But he is the archetypical journeyman at age 26, an 11-time All-American from Kentucky, and on Thursday, he looked up from his long, rugged path and realized he had arrived in the third round of the Open.
Witten defeated Maximo Gonzalez, ranked No. 79 in the world, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-5, 6-2, on Court 11 Thursday. The victory assured him of at least a $48,000 paycheck just for winning two rounds.
“I think,” Witten said of his pricey digs at the Waldorf, “they’ll extend my reservation for another couple of days.”
Witten has already played five matches, including the three he won in the qualifying round last week, and the upset in the first round over No.30-ranked Igor Andreev. It was his first tour-level victory of his career.
“I’m trying to prove to some people I can play a little bit,” Witten said. “It’s been a long time and a lot of guys doubted me, so it’s nice.”
He does not remember all the small towns he saw, all the matches in front of few fans he played. “You just have to go out there and put the time in and get through it so you can get to here,” he said.
His mother, an optometrist, and his sister, a school teacher, flew to New York in time to see his victory on Thursday. They could watch Witten play Novak Djokovic, the No. 4 seed in the next round (Djokovic plays another qualifer Carsten Ball, of Australia Thursday night).
0 comments
Post a Comment
Share your coment