After seven years of grinding away on tour, Viktor Galovic of Croatia was rewarded last week with his first ATP Challenger Tour title.
The 26 year old came through qualifying to prevail in Recanati, Italy. At No. 491 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Galovic is the lowest-ranked Challenger winner this year. His only other Challenger semi-final also came on Italian soil in Bergamo, but that maiden effort took place in February 2013.
"It was both a dream come true and a nightmare. All the matches were really, really tough, especially mentally, but it was really nice to get through,” said Galovic. “At the end, I had all the possible emotions you can imagine. I was almost crying. All the tension during the match, I had to let it out. It was just an amazing feeling to take the trophy for the first time in a Challenger. It was really emotional."
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Galovic has continued riding the momentum this week at the $150,000 Challenger in Braunschweig, Germany, defeating local favourite Yannick Maden on Thursday to reach the semi-finals. He is guaranteed to move to around No. 260 when the newest standings are released on Monday and will crack the Top 250 should he reach the final.
His inspired form couldn’t have come at a better of time, with the Croatian recently considering hanging up his racquets due to not achieving the results he wanted.
“I enjoy every part of practising. Even the suffering on the court, I dedicate a lot of time. But I was starting to think about quitting,” he admitted. “It's not so easy to play every year and spend money. But it's going well now and I hope for the end of the year I can reach the ranking of around No. 250, because I don't have many points to defend."
Galovic's family moved from Croatia to Italy when he was five years old and he began playing tennis soon after. He hasn’t forgotten his Croatian roots, though, citing 2001 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic as his idol. With Ivanisevic achieving the biggest win of his career at age 29, Galovic is optimistic that his best tennis is also ahead of him.
"I'm believing more in myself this year and it's starting to pay off. I reached three [ITF] Futures finals and beat some guys ranked around No. 150, so it's been really good,” he said. “A few years ago, I started a different approach with my tennis. It’s not as easy as it seems, but you have to just focus on what you have to do on the court.”