Almaty’s staging of a first ATP tournament has proven to be a historic occasion for one of its residents, too.
Beibit Zhukayev contests his maiden ATP Tour quarter-final on Friday at the Almaty Open, with his parents expected to be in attendance again.
“I’m really happy that I got through to my first ATP quarter-final, especially playing at home,” said the 24-year-old wild card, who advanced to the last eight when the surging Tomas Machac retired due to illness after four games Thursday. “It’s an incredible feeling. I’m very proud of myself.”
Zhukayev resides close to the mountains, about a 20-to-25-minute drive from the tournament venue without traffic, the No. 213 player in the PIF ATP Rankings said.
When traffic strikes Kazakhstan’s most populous city, the commute stretches to an hour.
He has mixed sleeping in his own bed with heading to the official tournament hotel, depending on the circumstances.
Zhukayev won’t need to head to Almaty Arena too early on Friday since his quarter-final against Karen Khachanov features in the night session slot of 7 p.m.
A victory over the third seed would send Zhukayev’s PIF ATP Live Rabking past his career high of No. 171 set in May and get him closer to his “first goal” of breaking the Top 100.
“Slowly, step by step, I’m improving this year,” said Zhukayev. “I’m happy in what form I am in right now here. So I hope I will improve more and more by the end of the year.”
[ATP APP]The end of 2023 gave Zhukayev much reason for optimism. He collected his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Charlottesville last November to help secure a first Top 200 finish in the year-end PIF ATP Rankings.
But illness and injuries scuppered the progress of the big server, who told the ATP last year that he started to play tennis aged eight while on holiday in Turkey.
“This year was not easy,” he said. “I made a good preseason, but then I got sick. I had some virus in my body and I lost my form that I built in the preseason.”
He still made the trip to Australia, but wasn’t 100 per cent. He missed about another month with illness thereafter, but felt his form improved on grass.
To that end, Zhukayev got closer to reaching the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament than ever before when he landed in the third and final round of Wimbledon qualifying.
However, a lower back injury halted his progress during the North American hard-court swing.
With his back feeling better, Zhukayev qualified for the Rolex Shanghai Masters for the second consecutive year — his first ATP win came in Shanghai last season prior to losing to Khachanov despite 20 aces — ahead of Almaty.
“In China, I started feeling better,” said Zhukayev. “My lower back got better. And, yeah, Shanghai was not bad.”
The ATP Masters 1000 ended with Jannik Sinner beating Novak Djokovic. Djokovic, along with fellow “Big Three” members Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, were Zhukayev’s tennis idols.
“When I was growing up I always was watching Federer,” said Zhukayev. “I like how he played. And Nadal [I liked] for his athleticism and his character. He was always fighting ‘til the end. And Djokovic as well.
“He was the last one in that company but at the end he is the greatest now, the greatest tennis player ever.”
Djokovic also has ties to Kazakhstan, claiming the title in Astana in 2022 before the event’s relocation to Almaty.
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