British wild card Jan Choinski paid tribute to the home crowd at Wimbledon after they “carried” him through to a second-round meeting with former doubles partner Hubert Hurkacz.
German-born Choinski, the son of an English ballet dancer, changed allegiances in 2019 and rewarded the faith placed in him at the All England Club with an excellent 5-7 7-6 (4) 6-2 6-2 win over world number 56 Dusan Lajovic.
During his main draw debut at the Championships, Choinski fought back from a set down on Court 17 to secure the biggest victory of his career and set up a clash with 2021 Wimbledon semi-finalist Hurkacz, who is Polish like his father.
“I feel absolutely amazing and the crowd was electric at my court,” Choinski said.
“Even though it was one of the smaller courts, I felt carried by the crowd, carried by the whole team, the whole LTA support that was there, my mum especially, and my girlfriend.
“So, yeah, just an amazing day. I’m happy that I could produce some good tennis.”
On the prospect of facing Hurkacz next, Choinski revealed: “We had great contact as juniors.
“We played many doubles tournaments together. As a matter of fact, we won Roehampton, a junior grade one tournament, leading up to Wimbledon in 2014. Then we also played Wimbledon doubles together.
“I’m always great friends with the Polish squad. We practised together a lot. Yeah, he’s done very good for himself. I’m happy to see him where he is right now. I’m thankful for the challenge and thankful to be able to play him in the second round.”
Choinski and world number 18 Hurkacz last partnered up in 2016 and the past seven years have brought a number of challenges for the six-foot-five right-hander.
After he started out playing for Germany, a conversation with Britain’s Davis Cup captain Leon Smith at the IMG academy in 2018 set the wheels in motion for a nationality switch.
Being a British citizen, due to his mother being born in Southampton, Choinski was able to smoothly link up with the LTA.
But surgeries on his hip and shoulder followed, sandwiched by the coronavirus pandemic, and he was ruled out of Wimbledon last year with Covid-19.
His spell on the sidelines saw Choinski drop to 692 in the ATP rankings in August but he never once contemplated walking away from the sport and after impressing at several ITF and Challenger Tour events, he was delighted to justify his place in SW19 with a fine win.
World number 167 Choinski said: “This time last year? I was struggling with mononucleosis and Covid on top of that.
“I was 26 at that time, had almost dropped all my ranking points and came back from two years of being out, two years of being injured, two surgeries.
“But I just never wanted to leave tennis, put tennis by the side. I just thought I’ve got more in myself and I want to show it.
“My attitude is never to really think that’s it. I never doubted it for one second. Never said for one second that I want to stop.
“My love and the passion for the sport is just so big. Also my love for practising, working on myself, getting better, seeing progress day by day.
“After my second surgery, I basically locked myself into National Tennis Centre at the LTA. I got the best support I could have, but we were working so hard.
“We were working six days a week from nine in the morning till six at night. Sometimes I was sleeping there.
“I’d go into the gym or something by myself at eight in the evening and still do another rehab session to try and speed up the whole process of rehab.
“Then we got to a point where I finally was able to compete again after six months or something.
“Yeah, it’s great being here representing Great Britain and being able to produce some good tennis in the first round.”
Alcaraz beaten on Laver Cup debut with Zverev in doubles
Carlos Alcaraz suffered defeat on his Laver Cup debut, as he was beaten in straight sets alongside Alexander Zverev in doubles by Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton.
Team Europe put up a strong fight but struggled to match Fritz and Shelton, who won 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 in one hour and 37 minutes.
Alcaraz and Zverev made a slow start to the match, losing their serve in the fourth game as the Americans went on a three-game winning streak, but they pulled it back to level the tie, only to lose the tie-break.
Team Europe looked to have found their groove in the second set but failed to convert four break points in the fourth game as Fritz and Shelton levelled the score at 2-2.
A three-game winning run at the end of the set, including one more break, was enough to get Team World over the line, pulling them back to 2-2 at the end of day one.
Francisco Cerundolo had originally given Team World the lead with a shock win over Casper Ruud before Stefanos Tsitsipas and Grigor Dimitrov's wins had put Team Europe 2-1 up.
Federer hopes Nadal continues his career into 2025
Roger Federer believes it would be "phenomenal" if Rafael Nadal prolonged his career into 2025 but admits it is up to the Spaniard himself to make that choice.
Nadal last played at the Paris Olympics, where he competed in both singles and doubles, and has since ruled himself out of the US Open and Laver Cup.
It is still uncertain whether the 22-time grand slam champion will continue to play next season, but his long-time rival Federer would love for him to play on for just a bit longer.
When asked how he felt about Nadal pulling out of the Laver Cup, Federer told dta: "I really hoped he would somehow get a match in the end, but he just said he'd rather not do it, and that he doesn't feel ready.
"But he seems good. I think he just has to decide what to do next, and I think that's what he's going through at the moment. He's done everything for the sport.
"It would be phenomenal if he could go on for another season, but only Rafa himself can answer that. In the end, it might be helpful to make a decision at some point."
Furthermore, the eight-time Wimbledon champion still believes Novak Djokovic is one of the favourites for next year's Australian Open, despite the Serb not picking up a Grand Slam title this season for the first time since 2017.
He said: "Novak, winning the Olympics and playing somewhat, let's say a full season - he didn't bow out because of injuries, he chose to play less, which is normal when you get a bit older.
"I feel like he has chances moving forward. I look forward to Australia, which is the next Slam. I think [Novak is] definitely going to be one of the favourites along with [Jannik] Sinner and [Carlos] Alcaraz."
Djokovic is a 10-time champion in Melbourne but fell to defeat against Jannik Sinner in this year's semi-finals.
His next event will be at the Shanghai Masters, which commences on October 2.
Raducanu roars through to Korea Open quarter-finals
Emma Raducanu booked her place in the Korea Open quarter-finals with a straight-sets victory over Yue Yuan.
The former US Open champion wrapped up a 6-4 6-3 win in just over two hours in Seoul, where she will play either top seed Daria Kasatkina or Hailey Baptiste.
Yue, who was runner-up in this event 12 months ago, recovered an early break to hold a slender 4-3 lead in the opening set.
However, Raducanu took control with a run of six successive games to draw first blood, before taking control of the second set with a double-break for 3-0.
Yue fought back to 3-2, but saw a break point go begging in the following game as the Briton eventually held to remain in command.
Raducanu had to be patient as her opponent saved five match points to break in game eight, but the world number 70 eventually converted her seventh for victory.
Data Debrief: Raducanu roars into last eight
Raducanu has spoken of how she intends to "thrive in Asia" and she is in a good position to do that after reaching her fifth quarter-final of 2024.
The Briton certainly dominated on the serving front as she hammered 11 aces without reply, while also converting six out of nine break points.
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