U. of San Diego’s Holmgren enjoys dream run at Wimbledon

August Holmgren DEN serves against Alex de Minaur AUS in the Third Round of the Gentlemen s Singles on No Court at The Championships Held at The All England Lawn Tennis Club Wimbledon Day Saturday Photo courtesy of AELTC Jonathan Nackstrand WIMBLEDON ENGLAND The play was called FML How Carson McCullers Saved My Life and it was the highlight of the University of San Diego s participant theater season in - It s about surviving high school and how literature can transform someone and each day at rehearsal a tall blonde kid from Denmark transformed himself from a superstar tennis athlete at the school into a supporting role in the production It s a really cool play you should check it out Holmgren stated Saturday He declared this in an interview room at the All England Lawn and Tennis Club after his third-round match at Wimbledon where Holmgren transformed himself yet again over the past two weeks into one of the bulk delightfully unexpected stories of the tournament Alex de Minaur AUS at the net after defeating August Holmgren DEN in the Third Round of the Gentlemen s Singles on No Court at The Championships Held at The All England Lawn Tennis Club Wimbledon Day Saturday Photo courtesy of AELTC Jonathan Nackstrand Until two weeks ago Holmgren had never won a main draw match on the ATP Tour He d never done a lot of things then he went and did The -year-old former USD All-American just finished an incredible run at Wimbledon when he won three qualifying matches to make the main draw of a Grand Slam coming from behind in two of them Holmgren then kept the dream going by winning his first-round match over veteran Quentin Halys and then remarkably saving three match points in a stunning five-set win over No seed Tomas Machac here on Thursday winning - in the fifth set Saturday before a packed house on Court No he pushed No seed Alex de Minaur all the way through before losing in three tight sets - - - His best chance at leading - in the second set tiebreak when he came to the net behind a big forehand and netted a half-volley I came to net against arguably the fastest guy in the world so what am I doing he lamented afterwards That s going to haunt me a little Still his solid effort capped a week that saw Holmgren earn British pounds the equivalent of U S far more than he s made in his first scant years as a pro And it finished off the greatest week in USD tennis history as current Torero Oliver Tarvet also made a splash coming through qualifying and reaching the second round before losing to Carlos Alcaraz on Centre Court Wednesday He s the best guy in the world USD coach Ryan Keckley noted of Holmgren This whole two weeks has been incredible A week and a half ago I was working a tennis camp in San Diego and then all of a sudden you re on Centre Court at Wimbledon with your kid playing Alcaraz It couldn t have worked out any better De Minaur was suitably impressed after beating Holmgren I mean the level he displayed not just at present the whole week he s an extremely dangerous participant De Minaur commented He s got an unbelievable serve a great forehand He takes the racquet out of your hand and when he s playing with a lot of confidence it makes for a very tricky opponent In one sense Holmgren s wonderful Wimbledon shouldn t be that surprising Possessing a -mile-per-hour serve on a surface that rewards fast serves more than any other is a huge weapon to have And Holmgren has a huge forehand and excellent movement as well But still this run at the the bulk prestigious tournament was hardly expected He had a remarkable career as a Torero making the NCAA Tournament as a freshman then improving so much year to year that in - he won the fall ITA championships in singles and advanced to the NCAA Tournament championship match where he lost to then-Florida Gator and current Top pro Ben Shelton Keckley revealed he knew something was different about Holmgren during the recruiting process Here was a kid who was maybe No in the world junior rankings and he had this Excel spreadsheet and was recording every single conversation he had with a coach taking notes on every interaction and everything they reported Keckley recalled I was like whoa I ve got a pretty big hill to climb with this kid But Holmgren revealed he was very impressed with Keckley s attention to detail and how his players improved I felt at home when I went to visit Holmgren commented And it s captivating you sought me about the play and being involved in theater there When I was doing that FML play that was certain of the best tennis I ever played And it was so cool because every evening from seven to nine I was in rehearsal I don t think the play I was during that tournament but it was either right before or right after that And I was just so happy with my life both on the court and in classes and the theater And that was something that opened my eyes to how major it is to be happy in life Holmgren s eyes grew wide when narrated how much money he d just made himself and he explained he had no idea what he might buy with that With his Wimbledon dream done he s up to a career high No in the rankings but now he ll go back to the minor-league circuit playing a meager hardcourt events before the U S Open in late August where he ll again try to qualify I ve got something to prove the next insufficient months to see if I can sustain this level or if I m just a one-tournament wonder which I really don t want to be my legacy Holmgren noted I ve had a lot of confidence in my practicing and felt I was getting better and better and I thought the wins were going to come I m just very fortunate they came these two weeks August Holmgren DEN serves against Alex de Minaur AUS in the Third Round of the Gentlemen s Singlesthe on No Court at The Championships Held at The All England Lawn Tennis Club Wimbledon Day Saturday Photo courtesy of AELTC Jonathan Nackstrand