Being an All-Star Surrounded by All-Stars
Kircheimer and Rybakov at work in Cary NC
Eighteen hours after tennis professionals Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev finished playing in New York, NY, tennis professionals Strong (yes, “Strong”) Kircheimer and Alex Rybakov step on the court to play in Cary, NC. Both matches will last a shade over three hours, but the winner of Djokovic-Medvedev will make $3 million; the winner of Kircheimer and Rybakov will make $780, or roughly .026% as much.
It’s 92 degrees Fahrenheit in Cary, and Kircheimer and Rybakov have both won one match (and $390) already in the “qualifying” for the tournament that officially starts the following day. Win this one and they get the opportunity to play with 32 others in the main draw of the Atlantic Tire Championships. Win five matches in the main draw and you will take home $10,840.
There are 11 other people watching with me (and 584 watching the livestream) as they get underway. The heat makes up for the quiet crowd – it is screaming.
It’s a glimpse of life on the “Challenger” circuit of professional tennis, a world as unlike the US Open as you can imagine. The players here have no endorsement deals, no huge teams of physios or nutritionists or hitting partners supporting them. The scoreboards are tiny; the ballpersons are volunteers. Have a bad week and you go into debt. A good week means you can pay your coach, if you have one.
The Challenger circuit has its analogs in most ever other major sport – the different “A” leagues in baseball; the American Hockey League; the USFL; the pro basketball G League; the Korn Ferry golf circuit; semipro circuits in other sports.
And the people in the minor leagues in every sport have one thing in common. Until they turned pro, they were almost certainly the best player on their team at every level (also true in music, dance, theatre, etc. – see this earlier post). Strong Kircheimer was the top-ranked tennis player in his age group in North Carolina growing up; he went to Northwestern where he set the all-time record for most victories.
But now he’s up against 1000 other people trying to play pro tennis who have some version of the same credentials. Alex Rybakov’s parents were both tennis pros; he starred at Texas Christian University alongside current ATP Tour star Cam Norrie.
And now all those all-stars are scattered out across the world, desperately trying to get to the top of this new world of super-all-stars, playing in 180 events in 40 different countries (this week there are other Challenger events in Szczecin, Poland; Rennes, France; Santa Cruz, Bolivia; and Guangzhou, China). In this new Petri dish of all-stars, Strong is ranked #426; Rybakov #535.
Strong Kircheimer, 28, from Highland Park, IL
Alex Rybakov from Plainview, NY, age 26
But watching them from a seat 20 feet away, I can’t figure out how 400 people could possibly be better than they are.
Kircheimer pastes his serve and slugs forehands with precision. Rybakov has a gorgeous one-handed backhand. Both players run so hard and stop so fast their shoes slide on the dry asphalt. They both hit the ball with so much topspin you can actually hear a sizzle coming off it as it goes through the air. Each ball bends like a corner kick.
Kircheimer mounts a big comeback in the first set, but Rybakov takes it in a tiebreaker. An hour later Kircheimer toughs out the second set 7-5…
Through the first eight months of the year, Kircheimer has made $15,595 playing tennis, but a lot of that has been chewed up in travel costs – to Winnipeg and Granby in Canada; to Chicago; to South Bend, Indiana and Lexington, Kentucky; to Winston-Salem and now Cary, NC.
Viewership of the men’s US Open final topped 28,000 in person; 1.2 million on TV; the numbers for this incredibly exciting match were much lower.
…Where he is in a dogfight for the third set. Rybakov has an early lead, then Kircheimer comes back and they swap games. Finally, after three hours and four minutes, Kircheimer wins in a third set tiebreaker. He’s made it into the main draw. If he wins his next match in the tournament, he’ll get 7 ranking points; he may move up to the top 400. And it may be easier to get into the draw of the next event – the tournament in Columbus, Ohio starts next Monday.
Update: Strong Kircheimer pulled out a gutsy win in the first round of the main draw, surviving two match points to defeat Aussie Tristan Schoolmate (World #151) in three sets. His second round match against #2 seed (and World #127) player Alex Michelson didn’t go so well: he lost 6-3, 6-1. For the week Strong made $1300 and earned 7 ranking points. He should move up a few notches in the rankings.
References:
US Open prize money, per diem: https://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/articles/2023-08-08/2023_us_open_prize_money_and_player_compensation_to_total_65_million.html
The Atlantic Tire Championships: https://atlantictirechampionships.com
Some info on Strong Kircheimer: https://www.atptour.com/en/players/strong-kirchheimer/kg27/overview
Some info on Alex Rybakov: https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alex-rybakov/rg42/bio