Homebird Shevchenko on off-court hobbies and being a ‘normal human’

Alexander Shevchenko forged a US Open breakthrough on Monday, when the 23-year-old downed Dominik Koepfer in straight sets for his first victory at the hard-court major. His reward? A showdown with home favourite and former semi-finalist Frances Tiafoe in New York.

An explosive baseliner who has risen as high as No. 45 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Shevchenko will be confident of springing an upset in Wednesday’s second-round clash. ATPTour.com caught up with the Kazakhstani for some quickfire questions on life off court and his career highlights so far.

If you could have dinner with any three people, who would they be and why?
First of all, Daniil Medvedev, because I’ve known him for a long time. We play a lot of games with each other, and we have a lot of good topics to speak about. Alexander Bublik, obviously my teammate for the national team and I get along very well with him. He is always joking around, so we would have a nice conversation. And Gael Monfils. He is my idol. I love the way he plays, love the way he acts, and he is just a great person.

Is there any particular match where you wish you could have been the guy who played it?
Nadal against Federer at Wimbledon 2008. I think this is the match. This is the best match in tennis history.

What's something cool you've done off the court because of being a tennis player?
I do a lot of stuff that I could do without being a tennis player, going to parties and stuff like that. But as a tennis player, I still didn't make it to this level where I can do things just because I'm a tennis player. I do a lot of stuff myself, just as a normal human being does.

We know you're into video gaming. Are there any other hobbies that you have?
To be honest, nowadays if you're a tennis player, you have so much stuff to do — practising, warming up — and you don't get a lot of time. But obviously I'm a huge football fan and I'm trying to watch all the games. My team is Manchester United. I also love hockey. I love all sports, to be honest.

You get to travel a lot with this job, but if you had to go somewhere for holiday and not for tennis, do you have a favourite place you would go?
Actually, I would love to stay just a couple of weeks at home. That would be my favourite. To see my family. Because life is going fast. You’re travelling all over the world. You do your best, but you want to just stay around with your loved ones. You just want to have fun as a normal guy, going for dinner, maybe some party time or something like that. Yeah, just staying at home with friends and family would be awesome.

Do you have a ‘pinch-me’ moment from being on Tour?
The first time I stepped on a really huge centre court. It was in Madrid, in Manolo Santana Stadium, against Medvedev. I was playing really great tennis. I couldn't get it done, but the atmosphere and just the goosebumps, the moments that I dreamed of, facing the best players on these stages and these big courts, it was just incredible. Along with my first ATP Tour final in Metz. Those are definitely the moments that I will remember and stay grateful for those moments.

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