Tallon Griekspoor seals his best victory yet

The ABN AMRO Open 2024 is already a very memorable tournament for Tallon Griekspoor. On Monday, he prevailed in a three-hour long match, after facing two match points against the talented Italian Lorenzo Musetti. On Tuesday in doubles, his team was unable to convert four match points and he fell over the side boards on Court 1. It was a bit of a shock but fortunately he was left unharmed. Finally on Thursday, for the second time of his career, he defeated top 10 player Hubert Hurkacz of Poland in  an epic battle.  It took 2.5 hours and three tiebreaks: 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) to achieve this milestone victory. After this tremendous fight, the Dutch truthfully concluded: 'This is the best victory in my career. I am incredibly happy that I was able to turn the match around after losing the first set.’

Tonight the 27-year-old who lives in Amsterdam will play the quarterfinals against the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori. Should he surmount the Finnish hurdle, a semifinal against the sensational Italian Jannik Sinner remains a strong possibility. So in theory it can only get better, but in truth the Dutchman’s week in Rotterdam Ahoy has already been quite a success. Griekspoor, currently number 29 in the world explains : 'What I experienced today, winning against a top 10 player, and in my opinion, the best server at the moment who gives so little away, means everything to me. Not only for me, but also for the people around me. Success is the reason I play tennis. I am very proud, and if you want to reach the top 20 and top 10 you have to take these steps.’

If one were to keep just two numbers in mind, it should be 23 and 28. To edge himself into the quarterfinals, Grieskpoor hit no less than 23 aces. On the other side of the net, the Pole also hit a record number of aces, 28 in total. But even for the man with the fastest serve ever recorded in Ahoy at 232 kms per hour, the Pole could not keep Griekspoor at bay. 'I have a lot of energy right now,’ said the Dutch number 1, who has recently started working with Swedish fitness coach Sebastian Pisano. 'To name but one thing, now I also have energy in the morning, whilst previously I could not get ahead of things in the early hours. I eat differently, I gave up the French fries and do different exercises. All of this makes me feel much better. I know what I'm doing now, and that gives me a certain peace of mind.’

Peace instead of doubt. A solid attitude that now enables him to play more accurately than before, in crucial moments, especially at the end of the game. Against Hurkacz, current World No. 8,  the Haarlem native broke his opponent  in the third set, at 3-2 after two hours without a single break point. This success was met by deafening cheers from the crowd. Immediately afterwards the Pole broke back. 'The fact that I lost my serve was due to the energy slump after that break, and that is of course not allowed,’ Griekspoor acknowledged. Luckily I regained the right attitude afterwards. It's kill or be killed, you just have to go for it. And then I was able to do that again.’