Radu Albot

[Damian]

[Lucas]

On The Line: Radu Albot

Spoiler:

ATPWorldTour.com speaks to stars about their favourite hobbies, idols and more...
Editor's Note: This story was originally published in February 2018.

Radu Albot advanced to his second ATP Tour semi-final on Friday, defeating Marcos Baghdatis in the last eight at the Open Sud de France. The Moldovan will try to reach his maiden tour-level final.

ATPTour.com spoke to Albot to discuss his passions, what he wants to do after his career and more.

What’s your biggest passion outside of sport and why?
My hobby is to ride my bike. This is one of my favourite things. When I get home I ride the bike all the time with my friends. I just get excited for it. It’s my top hobby.

What was the last book you read?
I read a lot of books. I read the biographies of a lot of players, like Andre Agassi. I read The Four Musketeers. I also read The Mindset, a book about psychology.

If you could have dinner with three people who would they be?
Maybe some famous people or some actor.

Favourite Movie?
Mr. Brooks.

Last concert or show you attended?
I was at a lot of shows. I was at Aladdin. I was at The Lion King. The last one I was at was Cirque du Soleil.


Favourite sport to watch besides tennis?
Speaking about sports, now it’s the Winter Olympics. I like the biathlon a lot. I like watching curling. If you talk about some other sports, not in the winter, I like soccer.

Favourite club?
I like Real Madrid.

Whom do you admire most?
I admire my father, I have to say, because he helped me a lot in life and taught me a lot of things. So I think that’s the person I admire the most.

My tennis career will be a success if ___________
I can’t say my career is not a success. Everybody is proud with what they achieved and what they’ve done. I guess human beings all the time want more and more. You have something, you want something else. You want more. But nobody is really satisfied and thankful for what they have at the moment. So I think I would say my career is a success. Of course you want to be [ranked] higher, but I’m happy.

After my tennis career, I want to ___________
I think I would like to stay in tennis, in sport, maybe to open an academy in my country because tennis and everything is not really well developed in my country and I would like to help the kids get better. There is not really a player who is coming behind me. As a professional, there are no ranked players. So maybe I would like to improve the sport in my country and create some possibilities for the younger kids.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/albot-on-the-line-2018

[Lucas]

25.02.2019

Najwyższy ranking w karierze: 52

[Żilu]

The Motivational Moldovan: Albot Making History

Spoiler:

Albot claims the first ATP Tour title for Moldova in Delray Beach
Years ago, a Moldovan man was watching his television, clicking through the channels when he saw something he had never seen before: tennis. The man liked the sport, and decided his son should try it. That boy was Radu Albot.

“When I started playing tennis, I was not following it on TV. It was just fun for me, running after balls, running around the court, playing games besides tennis,” Albot said. “Just more like a fun activity, it wasn’t like a serious sport.”

The 29-year-old says that there are not many public courts in Moldova. Mostly, there are courts available at private clubs. The country is small, with just more than 3.5 million residents.

You May Also Like: On The Line: Radu Albot
“There are enough courts to practise and enough to start playing there,” Albot said.

And that’s all the right-hander needed. Albot has set the bar for Moldovan tennis, and he hopes to inspire children in his country to take up the sport. Albot became the first player from his country to crack the Top 100 on 27 July 2015. Since 1984 Wimbledon, only two other Moldovans had reached the Top 500, so, as a kid, Albot found players from other countries to idolise.

“I was mostly following the Russian players like Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Marat Safin and I liked very much Roger Federer and David Ferrer,” Albot said. “I thought I was playing a little bit like David with my game style. I really admired him. When I got on the Tour, I tried to organise practice with him as much as I could.

“The first time you have a little bit of emotions, you’re excited to practise and to give your best in a practice. It’s a little bit like a dream. You see the guy for years on TV and suddenly you’re practising with him on the other side of the court, so that’s really cool and you could put it as an achievement in your career.”

Albot

Albot stands only 5’9”, but he makes up for his lack of height with his footwork and grit on the court, battling to make his opponents hit as many balls as possible.

“I’m an overall player, I’m fighting until the end, every point. Every time I play the ball in the court, so it’s really difficult to take me off the court,” Albot said. “For sure they think I’m a tough opponent to play.”

At the New York Open, Albot defeated two of the tallest players in the sport in two consecutive years. On Wednesday, he defeated 6’11” Ivo Karlovic, withstanding a barrage of 37 aces to reach the second round. Last season, Albot ousted 6’10” John Isner, this year's top seed.

"He competes very well. I think he has to, and his match today against Ivo was very indicative of that. He got aced almost 40 times, but he stayed the course and was able to win that match," Isner said. "He's a very little guy... He competes very well and he's actually a pretty aggressive player for being someone who's smaller in stature.

"I think a surface like this actually suits him pretty well because he likes to play aggressively and on his front foot. He takes the ball early. I know he plays Sam [Querrey] tomorrow, so I think that will be a pretty good match because Radu is very capable and I have a lot of respect for him."

Albot made his biggest breakthrough yet at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com, coming from a set down in his final three matches to become the first Moldovan to lift an ATP Tour title. It took a while for Albot to get to this level, as he was 25 when he made the Top 100 for the first time. But he was motivated to play in the main draw of more Grand Slam and ATP Tour events. Now that he’s there, Moldova’s tennis trailblazer will look to continue pushing forward.

“Now that I’m at my career-high, I want to be higher,” Albot said. “I had a goal for a couple of years now to break the Top 50 and I haven’t achieved it yet, but I really hope that in the future or in 2019 this will happen.”

Editor's Note: This story was originally published on 13 February, and updated to reflect that Albot won his first ATP Tour title in Delray Beach.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/albot-m ... -york-2019

[grzes430]

First-Time Winner Spotlight: Radu Albot

Spoiler:

Moldovan lifts first title in Delray Beach
Radu Albot was on the verge of defeat on Sunday in his first ATP Tour final. But the Moldovan saved three championship points against Daniel Evans to triumph at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com.

At the beginning of the year, the 29-year-old aimed to break into the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings, and on Monday he will climb to a career-high No. 52. Albot also made Moldovan history, becoming the first player from his country to lift an ATP Tour title. Albot spoke to ATPTour.com after the match to reflect on his maiden moment.

First-Time Winners In 2019

Player
Age Tournament
Alex de Minaur 19 Sydney
Tennys Sandgren 27 Auckland
Juan Ignacio Londero 25 Cordoba
Reilly Opelka
21
New York
Laslo Djere
23
Rio de Janeiro
Radu Albot
29
Delray Beach
How does it feel to be holding your first ATP Tour trophy?
It feels unbelievable. You work so much, you work your whole life, your whole career and at the end you win a tournament. This is just a great feeling. I think it’s difficult to put into words.

Was this a goal you had as a junior growing up, working your way up to when you started as a professional? Did you ever think you’d be here one day at 29 holding a trophy?
In my career I’ve had a lot of goals. My first goal was to break the Top 500 of the ATP Rankings, then it was 300, then 150, then the Top 100. Now I had the goal of breaking the Top 50, and I am close to it with this win. I'm closer to the goal than ever.

If you ask me if I was thinking of holding a trophy as a kid, not really. It’s a tough sport. Everybody is playing unbelievable tennis nowadays. You play a guy who is No. 200 and you can lose. You play a guy who is No. 400, you can lose. It’s just so physical and so mental here. I think it’s a surprise for me as well that I won, but I’ll take it. I played great tennis the whole week.

It was your first ATP Tour final against someone who had been in just one final before. Can you talk about that?
I was trying not to think much about it because the thoughts might be there too much in your head. You just try to focus on your game and your gameplan, what you’re doing good and your opponent is doing good so you can adjust. You just make it as simple as possible, like another match. You don’t want to be struggling thinking about how it’s a final. You don’t need to get tight.

You’re the first player from Moldova to win an ATP Tour title and you had the flag after the match. What does that mean?
This means a lot, being the first guy who has ever won an ATP Touyr title from Moldova. It’s a big thing. Nobody is playing professional tennis from my country at the moment. Nobody has an ATP Ranking point.

It’s a tough sport, it’s tough to break through. I say all the time the same thing, I hope that the kids will watch, the kids will get inspired, the kids will practise, get better, come out here and hopefully be better than me. I really hope there will be another player from Moldova who will get another title or go higher in the ATP Rankings than Radu Albot.

You came back from a set down in your last three matches. Talk about your fight all week.
I always try to fight until the last point. Even today, I was three match points down, but I was fighting. I was just being there on the court. Every time I lose a set, I just continue to play. It’s just half of a match. You don’t need to drop your game or let the other set get away from you. That’s what I was focusing on in the last three matches, and luckily it worked out pretty well.

What was it like in the third set when you had the break at the rain delay and then led 4-2, a chance for 5-2 and he broke you back?
This is the sport. This is tennis. It happens a lot. You’re winning, you’re leading and suddenly 10 minutes later you’re down and you’re defending everywhere in the court and saving match points. In the rain delay we did not talk much about tactics. I talked to my coach and we just kept doing what I was doing before, no new tactics. The first game it worked, it worked good later on but I just didn’t convert the second break to go 5-2 up and I think that would have been the key and it would’ve been an easier end to the match for me.

What did you learn during the week in putting together five wins at an ATP Tour event for the first time?
It’s a very good question. I honestly don’t know the answer. It’s difficult to win five matches in a row on the ATP Challenger Tour or in a Futures. To win five in a row at an ATP Tour event against great players, Top 100 players, Top 30 players, this is a different level. I was just 5-0 this week and we keep going.

You’re now just outside the Top 50 only two months into the season, and that was your goal before the year. Do you have any new goals?
It’s a little bit too quick to think about it. I just finished my match. Of course, even if you’re No. 1 in the world, you have different goals. You will not be like, ‘Okay, I’m done. I’m going to put my racquet into the bag and quit.’ Everybody has goals. I am close to No. 50, and for sure there will be different goals I want to achieve in the future.

How about bringing Magnus Tideman onto your team as a coach? How has he helped your game?
We met in December. We hadn’t talked to each other ever. We started to work at the Australian Open. This was the only tournament where I hadn't won a match at a Grand Slam, so this year I won my first Australian Open match.

It’s just a lot of belief, a lot of little things that maybe you don’t pay attention to, but it works. Of course I’ve been working hard even before Magnus. It’s not like something crazy happened, it’s just good timing and good vibes. The connection between Magnus and I has worked pretty well, and I love it.

Is there anyone who you’d like to acknowledge who has helped you get to where you are today?
I would like to say a lot of thanks, first of all, to my parents. Even in the middle of the night they are watching my matches, it doesn’t matter where I play. In Australia, in the United States, any state in the United States, they are watching all my matches. Even though I think they’re awake, I didn’t take my phone out yet to check. For sure, they called me and they texted me.

I’d like to say thanks a lot to the president of the Moldovan Tennis Federation… he helped me a little bit financially when I had trouble in my career. Hopefully he will keep helping me in the future. I also want to say thanks to my ex-coach, who helped me a lot, Leon Smith. He’s helping Gael Monfils now. I want to thank my girlfriend, who is a big, big, big part of the team. She’s not just like a girlfriend. Her name is Doina Chiorescu.

For people who are not familiar with Moldova, tell them what they should know about your country.
Moldova is situated between Romania and Ukraine in Europe. It’s a pretty small country with a population of four million people. The capital is Chisinau, this is where I live, and there is only a population of one million.

My country is very, very famous for cellars under the ground. There are hundreds of kilometres and you cannot walk there. You have to take a car and drive the car underground to see the wine cellars. This is the most famous thing we have in Moldova. A lot of tourists go there and a lot of wine experts. There are a lot of hard-working people and unfortunately they're not really paid well at home.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/radu-al ... beach-2019

[arti]

IW19 R1:

48 Matthew Ebden 956
49 Radu Albot 945
50 Cameron Norrie 941

[Lleyton]

IW19 R3:

43 Dušan Lajović 1010
44 Radu Albot 971
45 Michaił Kukuszkin 970

[Damian]

18.03.2019

Najwyższy ranking w karierze: 46

[DUN I LOVE]

Czas na Federera w Miami.

Po kreczu Ebdena Radu jest 55-70 w cyklu głównym.

[arti]

Miami19 R2:

44 Jan Lennard Struff 990
45 Radu Albot 987
46 Andreas Seppi 970

[DUN I LOVE]

Bardzo dobry mecz przeciwko Federerowi, ale ostatecznie trochę zabrakło na finiszu. Super sezon Mołdawianina.

[Lucas]

Radu Albot +52 (No. 46)

Radu Albot is the only Moldovan who currently has an ATP Ranking. And in 2019, the 29-year-old has continued lowering it, breaking into the Top 50 for the first time by reaching the third round in Indian Wells.

After a first-round loss in Pune, Albot has shown consistent form, winning at least one tour-level match at each tournament he has played since. The Moldovan’s crowning moment of the first quarter came in Delray Beach, where he fended off three championship points to beat Evans and lift his first ATP Tour trophy. Albot also showed his ability to compete against the best players in the game, as he was the only player to take a set from Federer at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/felix-l ... april-2019

[Barty]

15.04.2019

Najwyższy ranking w karierze: 45

[Razing]

[arti]

ATP Budapeszt R2:

41 Jérémy Chardy 1040
42 Radu Albot 1016
43 Cameron Norrie 1005

[Lucas]

22.04.2019 - najwyższy ranking w karierze: 44

[Lucas]

Eighth seed Radu Albot continued his fine form this season with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine. The Moldovan broke his opponent twice in each set and secured the win on his fourth match point after one hour and 41 minutes. He’ll take on qualifier Filip Krajinovic of Serbia, who squandered four match points in the second set before recovering to beat Italian Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-7(3), 7-5.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/berrett ... 019-monday

[arti]

Earlier in the day, Moldova’s Radu Albot knocked out Benoit Paire of France 6-3, 6-2 in 87 minutes for a meeting against Italian No. 10 seed Fabio Fognini at the Foro Italico. Albot’s best performance in his seven previous ATP Masters 1000 tournament appearances came in March at the BNP Paribas Open, where he advanced to the third round (l. to Edmund).

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

[Damian]

Fifth seed Radu Albot, this year's Delray Beach champion, battled past Italian Lorenzo Sonego 7-6(6), 7-6(3) after one hour and 54 minutes, winning just two more points than his opponent in the match. The Moldovan will play Cordoba winner Juan Ignacio Londero, who advanced on Sunday, for a spot in the quarter-finals.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/dimitro ... 019-monday

[Damian]

ATP Genewa QF:

39 Jérémy Chardy 1065
40 Radu Albot 1056
41 Pierre Hugues Herbert 1053