By Tracy Zwick
Local favorite Aleksander Kovacevic lost to Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot in the first round of the U.S. Open men’s singles competition on Monday, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5. Kovacevic was unable to break the Monegasque’s big serve, which hit speeds in the 140 mph range. And though he outplayed Vacherot at the net, he also outpaced him in unforced errors and struggled with his own serve.
“I’m pretty disappointed,” Kovacevic told WSR after the match. “I haven’t done well at the Open since the first year I played here, and it’s a tournament that’s very special to me since I grew up on the Upper West Side.”
He drew a big home crowd and felt the support. “It’s good to use the support to help you get motivated,” he said, “but it puts a lot of pressure on you too, to do well in front of the people who want you to do well.”
“I disappointed myself today,” Kovacevic said, “and I feel like I disappointed people who came out to support me.”
Vacherot talked after the match about his history with “Kova”. “We’ve known each other a lot of time,” he told WSR. “We did our whole college careers at the same time. He was at Illinois and I was at Texas A&M. We didn’t compete against each other, but we were always around each other.”
They’d previously played as pros three times. Vacherot lost twice to Kovacevic, and defeated him just once. “He can be dangerous on his serve,” Vacherot said of Kova, “and I knew I needed to watch out for his [one-handed] backhand, because he can slice the ball really well.”
Vacherot credited the strength of his own game for this win rather than weaknesses in Kovacevic’s. “I just played a really solid match to not let him be able to become too confident.”
Fellow American Tommy Paul, the Open’s 20th seed, praised Kovacevic on Sunday to WSR at the Open’s media center on the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Queens, where the tournament’s held. “Kova’s an extremely talented player,” and “one of the better players at practice,” he said. “He just needs some consistent results to make the jump” into the elite tier of American players.
Kovacevic begins his doubles campaign later this week. He’ll partner with another New Yorker, 27-year-old Mac Kiger. “I did well in Wimbledon doubles,” Kovacevic said of his journey to the semi-final rounds of that tournament, where he paired with Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis. “Hopefully I can make a decent little run here too.”
“It’s disappointing that I’m out [of singles] this early,” he said. “Hopefully next year can be better.”
Kovacevic will take a couple of days off before returning to Flushing to practice for the doubles tournament. He’s staying downtown for this year’s Open, but he assured WSR that he does return to the UWS. “Our place in NYC is just a little small, and the whole family’s there. For me to stay there, it’d be a little cramped,” he said.
One way Kovacevic says he likes to relax as he travels the globe is by trying the best restaurants in town. “Where I’m staying, near the West Village, there are a lot of really nice spots,” he said.
“Not that I”m saying there aren’t any on the UWS! There are,” he quickly added. “It’s just a little far from where I’m staying. But I definitely do go back and visit my family, in the apartment where I grew up.”
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