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Rising Australian star Aleksandar Vukic was happy with the way his 2020 season went as he hopes to continue his improvent in 2021 and reach new heights this season. Vukic, ranked at No. 196 in the world, made his Grand Slam debut last season and also achieved a career-high ranking of No.
183 in the world. "I guess ‘positive’?” Vukic told Tennis Australia, when asked to sumarise his experiences of 2020. "It’s tough. Overall, the year itself was challenging for many people. But the tennis itself was positive”.
Vukic came close to making his Grand Slam debut in front of his home fans at the Australian Open as he made the qualifying final round, before losing to Daniel Elahi Galan Riveros. At the French Open -- on his least favorite surface -- Vukic won three qualifying matches to earn a main draw spot at Roland Garros.
Vukic didn't particularly impress in his Grand Slam debut as he suffered a straight-set loss to Pedro Martinez in the French Open first round. "That was a real highlight,” Vukic said of his Grand Slam debut. "It’s a lot of people’s dreams just to play in a Grand Slam so to be able to qualify for a Grand Slam on my own merit and on clay, where I honestly wasn’t expecting to do that well, I was pretty happy."
Vukic claimed one of his biggest wins against Jiri Vesely
At the Prostejov Challenger, Vukic pulled off a shock win as he beat home favorite Vesely.
"I definitely didn’t have the crowd behind me,” Vukic recalled. “It was good, but it was one of those (situations) where I’d had a few tough matches before that. “The level was really close, so every game I was trying to hold serve.
But it did give me the confidence going into the French that if I show up, anything is possible – it helped me give my best”. Vukic has a strong serve and a powerful forehand. "If I do that, I can make a lot of people uncomfortable and if I can hold serve, especially in today’s game, then I give myself a great opportunity,” Vukic insisted.
“I think I stuck to my strengths and kind of played pretty free. I wasn’t really thinking about winning or losing, it was more just trying to progress in each match and be glad that I can play tennis through these times”.