Former Challenger ballkid Dzumhur revamping career at that level: 'I'm not done yet'

Damir Dzumhur was a perennial Top 100 player in the PIF ATP Rankings from 2015-2020. He reached as high as World No. 23 and claimed three tour-level trophies in a two-year span. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and put the Tour on pause, Dzumhur would not have guessed he would need to wait four years to return to the Top 100.

“At the time, it's not easy to accept it,” Dzumhur told ATPTour.com. “Knowing that you've been in the Top 100 for almost six years, playing at the highest level tournaments, playing the Grand Slams and then suddenly you are not there, you have to play in qualies, you have to play more Challengers. [You think], ‘I'm going to get back,’ but it's not that easy. Then certain things are happening, you can't perform at your best level, you're not there and it's not easy to accept it.”

The 32-year-old, who hails from Bosnia-Herzegovina, has quietly been climbing on the ATP Challenger Tour, the circuit on which he has claimed three titles this year: Barletta, Italy; Ostrava, Czech Republic; Zagreb, Croatia.

Never give up ?

Damir Dzumhur comes back from 1-5 down in the third set to beat Squire 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 and claim the title in Ostrava!#ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/QJc5RS2URt

One of six players to win a trio of Challenger titles this season, it was that level that first exposed Dzumhur to pro tennis when he was nine.

Dzumhur grew up volunteering as a ballkid at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Sarajevo, his birth city. In 2003, the first year of the tournament, Dzumhur was retrieving balls for a 16-year-old Richard Gasquet, who went on to win the tournament in record-breaking fashion. To this day, Gasquet is etched in Challenger history as the youngest player to win multiple titles at that level. The Frenchman won in Montauban the year prior.

“I was like, ‘Wow! Me winning a Challenger in seven years? That’s not easy!’” Dzumhur said with a laugh. “But it was good to see that.”

Ironically, Dzumhur and Gasquet have played each other four times across all levels, including this year in the Manama Challenger semi-finals. “Once when we were practising, I told him, ‘Do you know that I was a ballboy to you in Sarajevo?’” he recalled.

Dzumhur saw several other young stars before they became household names and climbed inside the Top 10, including Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Ernests Gulbis and Janko Tipsarevic.

Dick Norman, who reached the Top 10 in doubles, hit with Dzumhur in 2003, the same year the Belgian reached the final and lost to Gasquet.

“I had a chance to hit for the first time with a professional player — a player that was Top 100 — I got my chance to ask if I could hit a few balls with him. He was so kind, so we did,” Dzumhur said. “That time when I was a ballkid was definitely the best time of the year for me. Because you could see some of the best players.

“It was a happy time for us kids. I really appreciate that I had the chance to do it. It's a dream of every tennis player when you are young to meet other tennis players who are professionals.”

Now Dzumhur has built a 12-year and counting professional career of his own. And after a difficult four-year stretch, he climbed back in the Top 100 on Monday for the first time since 10 February 2020.

“At some moments I felt my game was there, but I was just missing part of the puzzle and then there were also some tough moments, especially 2022,” said the World No. 100, who retired in the final round of Wimbledon qualifying this year with a ruptured abdominal oblique muscle.

“I dropped to 260 at one point and there I was thinking, 'What's going to be next? Am I going to come back or is it just going to be a struggle?’”

Dzumhur’s career-best stretch came from 2017-2018, when he won ATP 250 titles in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Antalya. The tour veteran is hoping his recent form is just the beginning of a tide change.

“I'm not done yet. This is not where I want to stop. I just want to go step by step,” Dzumhur said. “I'm definitely more motivated [knowing] that I got back to the Top 100. It's definitely nice to see your name among the Top 100 players.

“At the age of 32, I still feel good. Actually, this is the year that I felt the best in the last few years physically. I don't think that 32 is old for tennis and I still think that I can prove something in tennis. I'm pretty sure that I can do even more and I can get even better results.”

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