The story of Brandon Holt, son of a tennis legend who faces Argentine Cachín at the US Open

“I have been coming here literally since I was a baby. I’ve probably been here 20 times, so it’s pretty normal for me, ”Brandon Holt said on Friday, after passing the qualy that allowed him to participate in an ATP tournament for the first time in his career. those 20 visits before the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, where the US Open is played, he had done them with his mother, former world number one Tracy Austin. In his first experience there as a professional tennis player, he delivered one of the great successes on the first day of competition of the last Grand Slam of the season.

The 24-year-old American, who ranks 303rd in the ATP rankings, beat compatriot Taylor Fritz, 12th in the world rankings, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-1), 6- 3 and 6 on Monday -4 in three hours and five minutes of play in the Tribuna, the third most important stadium of the complex. His next match will be against Pedro Cachín of Cordoba (66th), who beat Slovenian Aljaz Bedene (347th) in five sets.

Four of the tennis player’s uncles and an older brother might have been enough to overthrow Brandon, born on 6 April 1998 in Rolling Hills (California), towards the sport of racket. But the great lighthouse that has always guided his career has been his motheran up and coming star of the late 1970s and early 1980s who traveled a very different path from her son.

Austin was a tennis prodigy.. He won the first of his 30 professional titles just 28 days after his 14th birthday, in January 1977 in Portland; he got the first of his two crowns at the US Open at the age of 16, in 1979 (he got his second in 1981); Y became the youngest number one in the world in the Open era in April 1980at 17 years and 117 days, breaking the hegemony that Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova had shared since 1975.

His son, on the other hand, opted for a much longer path. At the age when Austin had already reached the pinnacle of the sport, Brandon was number one, but in the ranking of high school students in his country. After completing that stage at Palos Verdes High School and some successes as a junior (he was a US Open doubles finalist in 2015), opted for higher education at the University of Southern California (USC) Marshall School of Business.

There he also played tennis during his four years of training and came to occupy the fourth place in the university rankings in September 2018. At the time he was already 20 years old, one more than today’s Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, number four in the world. . . However, Holt doesn’t think time at USC was a waste of timebut quite the opposite.

“I loved the university. I had incredible experiences for my development, I learned to manage the pressure. I also have a degree and I also liked the school aspect. I would not change it for nothing”, he assured. And he recognized that in those years at USC he wasn’t prepared to deal with the demands of the ATP tour.

After completing his university studies, in May 2020, he definitively launched himself into the professional circuit, even if in the first months he had to live with the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. To this he added a nuisance in his right hand that started haunting him in early 2021 and ended up seriously jeopardizing his career.

He was initially diagnosed with a mild wrist sprain which did not stop him from continuing to compete. He was then informed that he had suffered a stress fracture and was advised to rest for a month and a half. After a new medical consultation and a series of studies, they found an osteoid osteoma, a benign bone tumor that usually develops in the lower limbs, but in this case was located in the fourth metacarpus. For this reason he was operated on on August 17 last year.

“When I was going through that, I didn’t know if my career would endr. I had no idea what my injury was. Luckily I am in good health, have had a good rehab and have been able to stay pain free all this time. It was definitely a delicate situation, “Holt said.” His career was in jeopardy, “said his mother.

Eight months of inactivity forced that pathology on him. He was able to return to court only in January of this yearin a Future M15 tournament (the lowest in that circuit) in Cancun: became champion by defeating his compatriot Matt Kuhar in the final. That title was followed by three more M15s and one M25. That chain of good results allowed him to climb more than 600 positions in the standings and reach his best position (293rd) two weeks ago.

However, this wasn’t enough to qualify for the US Open either, so he must have received an invitation to participate in that instance. In five days he beat French Alexandre Muller (143rd), Ecuadorian Emilio Gómez (115th) and Bulgarian Dimitar Kuzmanov (159th). After the dramatic victory over Kuzmanov, which came after six hours and a couple of rain breaks, he hugged his visibly emotional mother in one of the compound’s camp 11 stands.

“It is definitely an advantage to have her as a mother. She gives me great advice and helps me a lot to understand this sport, recovery, the mental side and all aspects of tennis. She played at the highest level, so it’s definitely an advantage to have her. She is an incredible competitor and that’s the most important thing I’ve learned from her, ”she said after that win.

Austin acknowledged his intervention in his son’s career, despite never wanting to train him. “I participated in the search for the right coach, in consulting with the coach, in observing the teachings. But I want the information to be released from the coach so that she can continue to be his mother. This makes everything cleaner, “she explained. Currently her son works with South African David Nainkin.

Having access to the main draw of a Grand Slam was already a great sporting achievement and also a great financial reward for Holt, who until last week had won $ 70,599 in cash prizes and just for playing his first round match would have pocketed. $ 80,000. But he didn’t settle and left his old partner Taylor Fritz, whom he has known since they were children and with whom he trained for years at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Player Development Center in Carson, California. . .

“I got a good boost after playing three qualifying games in a row and was thrilled to be playing my first main draw game. I felt very strong and had a lot of fun. Many friends and relatives were on the pitch in a large stadium. It was the biggest game I’ve played so far, “Holt said after beating upset Fritz (” I can’t play like that, it’s shit, I feel terrible, “he admitted). stage was her mother, that child prodigy who, at the age of 59, is reliving those unforgettable moments lived more than four decades ago in New York.