Miomir Kecmanović

[Kamileki]

[Kamileki]

ATP Cincinnati R3:

47 Lorenzo Sonego 1026
48 Miomir Kecmanović 1022
49 Albert Ramos Viñolas 1019

[arti]

19.08.2019

Najwyższy ranking w karierze: 49

[arti]

[Damian]

The World No. 38 will try to win back-to-back matches for the first time since March at the Miami Open presented by Itau when he faces Serbia's #NextGenATP star Miomir Kecmanovic. The 13th seed beat 20-year-old Aussie Alexei Popyrin 7-6(5), 6-3.

Kecmanovic, 19, cracked the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings for the first time on Monday after making the third round of the Western & Southern Open, an ATP Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati, last week. He currently holds the seventh and final qualification spot in the ATP Race To Milan, which will determine seven of the eight players at the Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 5-9 November in Milan. The eighth position at the 21-and-under event is reserved for an Italian wild card.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/shapova ... 19-tuesday

[Damian]

The Secrets To #NextGenATP Serbian Kecmanovic's 2019 Rise

Spoiler:

Teen has risen more than 100 spots in the ATP Rankings in the past year
Editor's Note: This story was first published 2 August.

Miomir Kecmanovic was born in Belgrade, Serbia, and he currently resides in Bradenton, Florida. But the #NextGenATP star says that his breakthrough in 2019 could be traced to a different location: Tenerife, one of Spain’s Canary Islands.

Last offseason, Kecmanovic, who qualified for this week's Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, joined current World No. 4 Dominic Thiem for a three-week training block on the island, working hard alongside Thiem, German Jan-Lennard Struff and others. Kecmanovic was No. 132 in the ATP Rankings at the time, and it was not easy for him to keep up early on.

“It was tough at the beginning. I was struggling,” Kecmanovic told ATPTour.com. “We had three weeks as we moved, hit, hit and hit more. Towards the end I was adjusted and it felt pretty good.”

It wasn’t the first time Kecmanovic, a former junior World No. 1, had practised with a superstar. The Serbian moved to the United States at 13 to train at the IMG Academy in Florida, where he’d get to practise with players such as Kei Nishikori and Max Mirnyi. In his travels, Kecmanovic even got to hit with the likes of Roger Federer.


But this training block with Thiem and company was different. It changed his mindset. Kecmanovic would qualify for his first Grand Slam main draw at the Australian Open, and he has not looked back since.

“I really got to see how the top guys play and see their level. After qualifying for Australia I think I just started to believe more that I could do it, that I belonged there,” Kecmanovic said. “It started to go my way.

“[My belief] was definitely something that I was thinking about, but it’s different when it actually happens and [you keep up with them], then you start to believe it when you see that it’s happening. When it started, it was maybe one match, two matches. [Then] I saw that I could play at this level.”

At the BNP Paribas Open, you might have expected World No. 1 Novak Djokovic to be the last Serbian standing. Instead, it was Kecmanovic, who reached his maiden ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final as a lucky loser.

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But perhaps the 19-year-old’s biggest moment yet came at the Turkish Airlines Open Antalya, where he reached his first ATP Tour final. Kecmanovic was disappointed to fall short, especially after holding a match point against Lorenzo Sonego. But the Serbian took the positives out of it, cherishing a chance to learn from that moment.

“It definitely was a big experience to play my first final,” Kecmanovic said. “It was tough losing with match point in the final. But it was cool that I was finally able to break through and make a big result at an ATP [event].”

More than any individual result, Kecmanovic’s biggest victory this year has been in his mind. The teenager won many prestigious junior tournaments, but competing on the ATP Tour is a different animal.

“When it starts to happen and you believe, it just gets better and it goes a lot more your way,” Kecmanovic said. “You know that maybe you could do it, that you belong there and then you believe that you’re playing good.”


Kecmanovic is the second-youngest player in the Top 100, trailing only fellow #NextGenATP player Felix Auger-Aliassime. For some rising stars, that creates pressure that could slow their progress. Jimmy Arias, the IMG Academy’s Director of Tennis, and former World No. 5 knows that feeling. The American won all five of his ATP Tour titles before turning 20.

“I had expectations from a very young age and it was made known to me that I had expectations from a lot of different people,” Arias told ATPTour.com. “If the people around [Kecmanovic] are all telling him, 'You’re great, you should be this', some people would have trouble with that being thrust on them… [but] he’s got family right there and he’s had the same coach for a long time. So I just think he’s got a nice little team and they’re focussed on, ‘Let’s keep getting better’ and not, ‘Where are we going to be’?”

You May Also Like: Kecmanovic Feeling So Lucky He's Ready To Play The Lottery
Arias first saw Kecmanovic play about a year and a half ago, before he worked at the academy, where the Serbian still trains. Arias stopped by for a hit, expecting a 14- or 15-year-old practice partner. Instead, Kecmanovic was across the net.

He laughs about it now, but Arias was so nervous about giving the Serbian a solid practice that he shanked the first ball over the fence. Kecmanovic, who didn't know who Arias was at the time, did not utter a peep, and just continued on with the practice.

“At that time, I thought he was great off the ground, very solid. But his serve wasn’t good enough to compete at the highest level... But he has improved his serve enough and his groundstrokes are really solid. He’s tough to beat. He hits the ball deep, consistently, he moves well and obviously competes well,” said Arias, who believes Kecmanovic needs to continue working on his serve, as well as taking advantage of short balls.

It’s easy to forget that 12 months ago, Kecmanovic was ranked only No. 200. Now he’s at a career-high No. 58 with his sights set on the Top 50.

“Obviously I’m excited that it’s happening at such a young age. I’ve worked hard for it and it’s really a dream come true to play at the ATP level. I’m happy that it’s happened so soon,” Kecmanovic said. “A lot of people never see this, they never get to experience this, so I’m very thankful.”

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/miomir- ... ugust-2019

[arti]

US Open 2019 R2:

45 Reilly Opelka 1046
46 Miomir Kecmanović 1042
47 Albert Ramos Viñolas 1019

[Kamileki]

USO19: pierwszy wygrany mecz w Nowym Jorku.

Miomir Kecmanović d. Laslo Djere 6-2 6-1 7-5

[Kamileki]

[Damian]

Two other major upsets also took place on Saturday. #NextGenATP duo Miomir Kecmanovic and Casper Ruud held off a mid-match surge from third seeds Raven Klaasen/Michael Venus to prevail 6-4, 0-6, 6-4.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/kubot-m ... les-sunday

[Barty]

09.09.2019

Najwyższy ranking w karierze: 47

[Kamileki]

[arti]

Miomir Kecmanovic marked his VTB Kremlin Cup debut with a victory on Tuesday, beating Russian qualifier Artem Dubrivnyy 6-1, 7-5.

The eighth seed converted six of nine break points throughout the 72-minute clash to record his 22nd win in 40 tour-level encounters this year. Kecmanovic, who reached his maiden ATP Tour final in Antalya in June, will face Jeremy Chardy in the second round.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/kecmano ... 19-tuesday

[Razing]

[Barty]

Under Pressure, Milan-Bound Kecmanovic Already Plays Like Top 30 Player

Spoiler:

Serbian set to make his debut at the Next Gen ATP Finals
Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic hasn't been around the ATP Tour for long. The 20-year-old is in the final weeks of his first full ATP Tour season that will end at next week's Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 5-9 November at the Allianz Cloud in Milan.

But the Belgrade native has already learned one key factor for success on Tour: Being a great player in practice doesn't mean you'll back it up during a match.

“[They're] a lot different. In practice, everybody's relaxed, everybody's making shots. Everybody's playing great,” Kecmanovic told ATPTour.com. “But in the matches, the pressure moments, the expectations, all kinds of things [are] put into one.”

The intensity from big matches can dwindle some young players. The bright lights. The big names. It all gets to be too much at times.

But that hasn't been the case for Kecmanovic. In pressure moments, he has thrived during his breakout season that has seen him check off a list of career accomplishments, including his maiden ATP Tour final and first Top 10 win.

The 6'0” right-hander enters Milan at No. 55 in the ATP Rankings, but during break points, he's been a Top 30 player all season.

Kecmanovic is 17th on Tour in break points saved this season, having saved 64.34 per cent (157/244), better than Nitto ATP Finals qualifiers Stefanos Tsitsipas, last year's Milan champion, and Russian Daniil Medvedev, who competed at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in 2017.

Kecmanovic will be the sixth seed in Milan, but among his fellow Next Gen ATP Finals qualifiers, he's second in this category, behind only Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who has saved 64.83 per cent (188/290).

“I don't see him getting tight very often,” Miro Hrvatin, Kecmanovic's coach for the past three years, told ATPTour.com. “He believes in his strokes. I think whenever the ball is in play he has a chance.”

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Kecmanovic Feeling So Lucky He's Ready To Play Lottery

On the returning end, Kecmanovic has been nearly as proficient. He is 27th on Tour in break points converted (40%, 98/245), slightly behind Nitto ATP Finals qualifier Dominic Thiem (40.41%) but ahead of London hopeful and 2018 Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev (38.72%).

“The way I handled things on court, I think at some of the key moments, the pressure moments, I handled them all pretty well... I played really good and I didn't let a lot of things get to me... I was calm, I was focussed, and I'm really happy about that,” Kecmanovic said.

His reward has been a steady climb up the ATP Rankings and reaching two of his biggest goals: cracking the Top 100 and qualifying for Milan.

Kecmanovic started the season at No. 131 in the ATP Rankings, but by March, following his quarter-final run at the BNP Paribas Open, he had already reached No. 95. The Serbian, who had just one tour-level win before the season's first ATP Masters 1000 event, became the first lucky loser to reach the Indian Wells quarter-finals (l. to Raonic) since the Masters 1000 series began in 1990.

“After Indian Wells, he started to believe that he can really play with those guys and be there in the Top 100,” Hrvatin said.

<a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/miom ... ew'>Miomir Kecmanovic</a> hits a volley in the third round of the <a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/ ... rview'>BNP Paribas Open</a>.

Kecmanovic made his maiden ATP Tour final in June at the Turkish Airlines Open Antalya (l. to Sonego) and in August, during the U.S. summer hard-court swing, the Serbian beat Zverev for his first Top 10 win and a place inside the Top 50 (49).

“After each win you get a little bit more confidence, especially after big wins, and I think that just knowing that I can beat these guys, play with these guys, I think it just helps me a lot more to compete,” Kecmanovic said.

His rise has come on quicker than even he thought, but he's eager to show he belongs among the best in the sport.

“I'm definitely happy with the way I played and [how] everything has come together. I've been able to keep it up for an extended period of time,” Kecmanovic said. “ stay focussed, work even harder, not get satisfied, relaxed, just to be mentally in it. In practice, work hard, believe in it, and I think it'll be good.”

In Milan, Kecmanovic's play under pressure might be more important than ever. The tournament will have no-ad scoring for the third consecutive year and tie-breaks at three-all.

“It's a great group of guys, they had so much success, a lot of them,” Kecmanovic said of the Milan qualifiers. “It's nice to have a breakthrough at such a young age, and I'm really happy to be a part of this.”

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/miomir- ... re-feature

[Damian]

Kecmanovic Serves Up Victory In Milan

Spoiler:

Serbian defeats Ruud in straight sets
Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic opened this year’s Next Gen ATP Finals in style on Tuesday, scoring a 4-3(5), 4-3(5), 4-2 win in a serving duel with Norwegian Casper Ruud in the first match of Group A in Milan.

“I’ve had some experience with this format, so I was prepared for it,” Kecmanovic said. “I served pretty well, so that got me through today. I was able to stay calm and play aggressively.”

Kecmanovic improved to 2-0 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Ruud. The 20-year-old has jumped more than 70 spots in the ATP Rankings this year and currently sits at No. 60, with results including his maiden ATP Tour final at the Turkish Open Airlines Antalya (l. to Sonego) and first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final at the BNP Paribas Open.

Read More: Under Pressure, Kecmanovic Already Plays Like A Top 30 Player

Both players held serve comfortably in the first set to set up a tie-break. Ruud started slowly and went down 0/3, but fought back to even the score with a three-point run of his own. But at 4/4, Ruud’s baseline game betrayed him and a pair of errors gifted the Serbian two set points. Kecmanovic continued to control most of the rallies and leaned into a big forehand at 6/5 to take the early advantage.

The second set began identically to the first, with neither player earning a break point to set up another tie-break. It appeared Ruud might level the match after prevailing in a 22-shot exchange to take a 5/3 lead, but Kecmanovic increased the pace on his shots and cracked a big forehand two points later to tie the score. The Norwegian mistimed a forehand at 5/5 and Kecmanovic converted on set point with a big serve for a commanding lead.

A well-timed forehand volley winner from the Serbian gave him the first break point of the match at 2-2 in the third set. He made good on it after a forehand error from Ruud and held serve comfortably to advance in one hour and 16 minutes. Kecmanovic finished the day with an impressive 20 winners to just 10 unforced errors,

Action in Group A continues in Tuesday’s day session as top-seeded Aussie Alex de Minaur takes on Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/ruud-ke ... 19-tuesday

[Del Fed]

[arti]

[Kamileki]

[arti]