The Tennis ATP Challenger Tour is where younger up and coming players go to raise their rankings and get ready to go on to the bigger games.
Mackenzie MacDonald, the Bruin that did great in the Australian Open (and beat my boy Borna Coric), won his first after some damn serious surgery. From the ATP Web Site:
Forte Challenger 100 (Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan): Two years ago, Mackenzie McDonald was sitting at home, unable to walk. The American had suffered a devastating injury just days prior, when he tore his right proximal hamstring tendon at Roland Garros.
It has been a long road back for the former World No. 57, who needed surgery to repair the tendon and remove fluid from his leg. On Sunday, McDonald took a huge step the right direction, lifting the trophy at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Nur-Sultan. As he continues his quest to return to the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings, the California native streaked to the title in dominant fashion. It was his third Challenger crown and first since 2018.
Having fallen out of the Top 250 following his injury, which left him unable to walk for months, McDonald is projected to rise to No. 118 on Monday. He turned in a ruthless weekend effort, which saw him drop a combined six games in the semis and final. It was punctuated by a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Jurij Rodionov on Sunday.
"It was a pretty easy win for me," said McDonald. "I felt like he didn't play his best match and I served really well. I was attacking and didn't give him many chances to get into it. It's nice to finish strong like that. I know that all the hard work I'm putting in is showing. I'm going to keep going and try to get more of these."
McDonald has taken great strides towards rediscovering his top form in recent months. In September, he battled Rafael Nadal in the second round at Roland Garros and followed that with a quarter-final appearance at the ATP 250 event in Nur-Sultan. Also held at the Kazakhstan National Tennis Center, it is the same venue as this week's Challenger event. And earlier this month, McDonald would earn his biggest win since 2019, stunning World No. 25 Borna Coric en route to the Australian Open fourth round.
The American contingent is off to a fast start in 2021, with players from the United States boasting a 4-0 record in Challenger finals. McDonald joins #NextGenATP stars Sebastian Korda, Brandon Nakashima and Jenson Brooksby in the winners' circle.
McDonald will next appear at the second of back-to-back Challengers in Nur-Sultan. He opens against Canada's Brayden Schnur, with top seed Soonwoo Kwon also in his quarter of the draw. Emil Ruusuvuori, seeded second, is also competing at the Challenger 125 event.
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