Tennys Loren Sandgren II ( ; born July 22, 1991) is an American former professional tennis player. He has achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 41 on January 14, 2019. He played two years of college tennis at the University of Tennessee before launching his professional career.
Early life Sandgren's parents, South African Lia Lourens and American David Sandgren, met at a tennis club in Johannesburg. They married and moved to Tennessee in 1988 with Sandgren's older brother, Davey. Davey Sandgren was also a tennis player who achieved a career-high ATP ranking of 800 in doubles in 2009.
Sandgren, who was named Tennys after his Swedish great-grandfather, was home-schooled and was coached by his mother. He started playing tennis at age five.
Junior career As a junior, Sandgren compiled a singles win–loss record of 70–38 (and 53–35 in doubles), reaching as high as No. 9 in the combined ITF junior world rankings in April 2009.
Junior majors
Australian Open: – French Open: 3R (2009) Wimbledon: 2R (2009) US Open: 2R (2009)
College career Sandgren was a January midseason addition to the Tennessee Volunteers' 2010 tennis roster, joining older brother, Davey, who was a senior All-American on the team. Coached by Sam Winterbotham and Chris Woodruff, the younger Sandgren immediately strengthened the middle of the Vols' singles lineup, going 10–0 in Southeastern Conference play at the No. 4 position to help the team win the SEC regular-season and tournament titles. The team reached the NCAA team finals that year.
As a sophomore, Sandgren reached the semifinals of the NCAA Singles Championships, losing to teammate, roommate and doubles partner Rhyne Williams in three sets. He finished the season with a 37–6 record and his 10–1 record in conference helped the Vols to an SEC regular-season title. He finished his career with a 60–12 singles record (83.33 percent), the third-best career winning percentage in Tennessee history.
He was also a member of the USTA Summer Collegiate Team after his freshman and sophomore seasons.
Professional career
2011–2016: early years, Futures success and first Challenger title
Sandgren turned professional in 2011, playing mostly at the ITF Futures level through 2012. In 2013, his ATP ranking remained inside the top 300 for nearly the entire year, allowing him to play on the Challenger Tour for much of the season. In his final tournament of the year, Sandgren won his first final at Challenger level in Champaign to crack the Top 200 for the first time.
In 2014, Sandgren missed half of the year after undergoing hip surgery near the beginning of the season. Upon returning to the court, it took him nearly a year to get back to the Top 250 and the Challenger level. Sandgren returned to the Top 200 in November 2016, when he reached his second career Challenger final in Columbus, almost three years after he first achieved these two milestones.
2017: Challenger Tour breakthrough, top 100 In 2017, Sandgren reached five Challenger finals, winning two of them in Tempe and Savannah. He qualified for his first tournament on the ATP World Tour, the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston. Sandgren's success earned him a wildcard berth into the main draw of the French Open. In his Grand Slam debut, Sandgren lost in the first round to Mikhail Kukushkin.Bergman, Justin. Tennys Sandgren’s game, and name, on the rise in Australia. Washington Post: January 19, 2018. Retrieved January 21, 2018. A semifinals appearance in Prostějov helped him to break into the top 100 on 11 June 2017. In early August, Sandgren recorded his first two ATP World Tour wins at the Washington Open, including a victory over No. 20 Nick Kyrgios. At the U.S. Open, he lost in the first round to No. 7 Marin Čilić.
2018: Australian Open quarterfinal, maiden ATP final and top 50 debut
Sandgren began the 2018 season with a first-round loss to Gilles Simon in Pune. He followed with a loss to Casper Ruud in the second qualifying round at the Auckland Open. Sandgren received entry into the main draw of the tournament as a lucky loser following the withdrawal of Kyle Edmund. In the first round of the main draw, he lost in three sets to Hyeon Chung, winner of the inaugural Next Generation ATP Finals in Milan, Italy, two months prior. Making his Australian Open main draw debut, Sandgren won his opening match against French player Jérémy Chardy. In the second round, he defeated 2014 champion and ninth seed Stan Wawrinka, marking his first victory against a Top 10 ranked player. Following a victory over Maximilian Marterer in the third round, Sandgren defeated world No. 5 Dominic Thiem in Sandgren's first five-set match. He lost to Chung in the quarterfinals in straight sets.
In the run up to the quarterfinal he was involved in controversy when he was publicly criticized by Serena Williams for making anti-LGBTQ comments.
As the No. 1 seed, Sandgren was defeated in the first round of qualification for the Argentina Open by world No. 188 Facundo Bagnis. He lost in the second round of the Rio Open, the first round of the Brasil Open, the second round in Indian Wells and the first round in Miami.
At the beginning of the clay season, Sandgren reached his first final on the ATP World Tour at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, but lost to Steve Johnson. He entered the top 50 reaching a career-high of World No. 47 on April 16, 2018.
Sandgren lost in the first round of the Monte Carlo Open to Philipp Kohlschreiber in straight sets. He suffered another first-round loss in Barcelona to Malek Jaziri, also in straight sets. Following a first-round loss against Frances Tiafoe at the Estoril Open, Sandgren suffered his fourth consecutive first round loss, losing in straight sets to Denis Shapovalov at the Madrid Open. After having reached the quarterfinals at the Geneva Open, Sandgren was knocked out in the first round of the French Open by world No. 177 Hubert Hurkacz. He lost in the first round of the doubles tournament in straight sets.
In the first round of Wimbledon, Sandgren was knocked out by eventual champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets, winning only six games.
In the first round of the U.S. Open, Sandgren beat Viktor Troicki in straight sets before losing to Djokovic in four sets in the second round.
2019: First ATP title
In January, Sandgren won his maiden ATP Tour title at the Auckland Open. He achieved his career high in the singles rankings at World No. 41 on January 14, 2019. However, after the title, Sandgren suffered a 9-match tour-level losing streak, which he finally snapped at Wimbledon, where he reached the fourth round before losing to Sam Querrey. He then reached the quarterfinals at Newport and the third round at the US Open. At the end of the season, a fractured toe kept him inactive, and his ranking sank back out of the top 50.
2020: Second Australian Open quarterfinal, top 50 year-end ranking Sandgren again made it to the quarterfinals of the 2020 Australian Open, where he lost in five tight sets against Roger Federer, after having seven match points.
2021: Loss of form, out of top 50, Olympics debut Having tested positive for COVID-19 in November 2020, Sandgren returned the same result in January 2021, but was deemed to be "non-infectious" and was allowed entry into Australia to compete in the Australian Open where he lost in the first round.
Sandgren qualified to represent the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He lost in the first round in singles but reached the semifinals in doubles partnering Austin Krajicek where they lost to eventual champions Mate Pavić and Nikola Mektić. The pair lost subsequently in the bronze medal match to the New Zealand pair of Marcus Daniell and Michael Venus.
2022: Missed Australian Open due to vaccine mandate
Sandgren opted not to participate in the 2022 Australian Open due to the Australian Federal Government's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for visitors to Australia. When Novak Djokovic had his Australian visa rescinded upon arrival to play in the tournament, Sandgren's comment on Twitter in response to the Victorian state government's position on the matter was "LOL trusting the science again".
Performance timelines
Singles Tournament2009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024SRW–LGrand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAAAAQ2Q1Q1Q2Q1QF1RQF1RAAA0 / 48–4French OpenAAAAQ1AAA1R1R1R2R1RQ2AA0 / 51–5WimbledonAAAAAAAAQ21R4RNH2RAAA0 / 34–3US OpenQ1AQ1Q2Q1Q1AQ11R2R3R1R1RAQ2A0 / 53–5Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–00–00–00–00–25–45–45–31–40–00–00–00 / 1716–17National representationSummer OlympicsNHANHANH1RNHA0 / 10–1ATP Masters 1000Indian Wells OpenAAAAAAAAA2R1RNH2R1RQ2A0 / 42–4Miami OpenAAAAAAAAA1R1RNH2RQ1AA0 / 31–3Monte-Carlo MastersAAAAAAAAA1RANHAAAA0 / 10–1Madrid OpenAAAAAAAAA1RANHQ1AAA0 / 10–1Italian OpenAAAAAAAAAAA1RQ1AAA0 / 10–1Canadian OpenAAAAAAAAAAANHAAAA0 / 00–0Cincinnati OpenAAAAAAAAAQ1Q13RQ2AAA0 / 12–1Shanghai MastersAAAAAAAAAQ1ANHAA0 / 00–0Paris MastersAAAAAAAAAQ2A1RAAAA0 / 10–1Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–00–00–00–00–01–40–22–32–20–10–00–00 / 125–12Career statisticsTournaments0000000062018131630177Titles 00000000001000001Finals00000000011000002Overall win–loss0–00–00–00–00–00–00–00–02–616–2013–178–138–160–30–00–147–76Year-end ranking98013615402331836602611919661684996265259506
Doubles Tournament20112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024SRW–LGrand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAAAAAAAA1R2R2RAAA0 / 32–3French OpenAAAAAAA1RA1R2RAAA0 / 31–3WimbledonAAAAAAQ1AANH1RAAA0 / 10–1US OpenAAA1RAAAQF1RAAAAA0 / 33–3Win–loss0–00–00–00–10–00–00–03–20–21–22–30–00–00–00 / 106–10National representationSummer OlympicsNHANHANH4thNHA0 / 13–2Career statisticsTournaments0001000584800026Titles 000000000000000Finals000000001000001Overall win–loss0–00–00–00–10–00–00–04–54–82–46–90–00–00–016–27Year-end ranking650163133316194347444152261229256332558797
Olympic medal matches
Doubles: 1 (4th place) ResultYearTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore4th place20212020 Summer Olympics, JapanHard Austin Krajicek Marcus Daniell Michael Venus6–7(3–7), 2–6
ATP career finals
Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up) LegendGrand Slam (0–0)ATP Masters 1000 (0–0)ATP 500 Series (0–0)ATP 250 Series (1–1)Finals by surfaceHard (1–0)Clay (0–1)Grass (0–0)Finals by setting Outdoor (1–1)Indoor (0–0) ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss0–1U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, United States250 SeriesClay Steve Johnson6–7(2–7), 6–2, 4–6Win1–1Auckland Open, New Zealand250 SeriesHard Cameron Norrie6–4, 6–2
Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up) LegendGrand Slam (0–0)ATP Masters 1000 (0–0)ATP 500 Series (0–0)ATP 250 Series (0–1)Finals by surfaceHard (0–1)Clay (0–0)Grass (0–0)Finals by settingOutdoor (0–1)Indoor (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss0–1Winston-Salem Open, United States250 SeriesHard Nicholas Monroe Łukasz Kubot Marcelo Melo7–6(8–6), 1–6, [3–10]
ATP Challengers and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 27 (15–12) LegendATP Challenger (4–5)ITF Futures (11–7)Finals by surfaceHard (13–6)Clay (2–6)Grass (0–0)