Roger Federer & the road to redemption: Eliot Spizzirri’s US Open journey | ATP Tour

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Federer & the road to redemption: Spizzirri’s US Open journey

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August 26, 2024

Five years ago, then 17-year-old Eliot Spizzirri stepped inside Arthur Ashe Stadium for an extended training session with five-time US Open champion Roger Federer. It was an unforgettable experience for Spizzirri and his longtime coach, Patrick Hirscht, both of whom looked up to the Swiss legend.

“That was definitely a highlight of both Eliot’s life and mine,” Hirscht said. “He was my favourite player, I think he’s Eliot’s favourite player, someone we both idolised and emulated. A lot in Eliot’s game we kind of copied off Federer. How we wanted Eliot to carry himself on court, and how we wanted him to act and talk and be like.”  

Just weeks later, Spizzirri and Tyler Zink won the boys’ doubles event in New York. Five years later, Spizzirri will compete in the main draw of the men’s singles event for the first time when he faces #NextGenATP standout Alex Michelsen.

“I got to hit with Fed on Ashe, and so that was like, ‘Wow, okay, this is insane’. And to now be playing in the tournament, and now, actually in the main draw, you can’t explain the feeling,” Spizzirri said. “Seven, eight, 12-year-old me is going crazy right now. Of course, yeah, I’m going crazy, but it takes time to soak in a little bit.”  

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The good news for Spizzirri is that not only is he on the verge of playing the biggest match of his life to date in the first round of the season’s final major, the 22-year-old is doing it at home. No other player in the draw is as familiar with the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center as Spizzirri.

The American and his twin brother, Nick, played tennis recreationally at a club in Greenwich, Connecticut, where Hirscht was a coach. Nick was a bit bigger and stronger, but Eliot was ultra competitive from an early age and began playing tournaments. Nick continued playing tennis as well, but as he neared his teens he turned to squash, a sport in which he is now one of the best players in the United States. 

Aged 12, Eliot’s parents asked Hirsch to become his private coach, an offer he accepted. About a year later, Hirscht was looking for groups for Spizzirri to join. He found the USTA Player Development group at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, where Jay Devashetty was among the coaches.

It was a small group of students, mostly made up of girls. Of the group, two of the girls, Marcella Cruz and Dasha Kourkina, went on to compete at Vanderbilt University. Elysia Bolton and Elisa Wagle played at UCLA. WTA professionals including Christina McHale, Louisa Chirico and Varvara Lepchenko, often joined the group. 

“I think my first impression of him was, ‘Man, this kid is so competitive’,” Cruz recalled.” I think we played a set, and back in the day, I think I tallied up my wins pretty good for a while, until he got older. I remember I played him in a set, and he, at that time, just had the worst temper and was just super emotional, but passionate, loved the game and loved to compete. It was so apparent that he loved the game and just wanted to win so badly. 

“That’s how our relationship started, just with practising together. And I quickly learned that he was just such a kind-hearted and just a great [person].” 

Hirscht would accompany Spizzirri to the group three to four days per week to train at Flushing Meadows, home of the US Open. Every day they would drive past the courts where the best players in tennis history have plied their craft.

“I actually think, as a coach, one of the biggest mistakes that everyone always makes is trying to train with better people,” Hirscht said. “There was a good period of time where Eliot was training with only girls, probably a year and a half where it was only girls, and he was the best player.” 

It was one of many debates Hirscht and Spizzirri would have during their drive back from New York. One week when he was 16, the pair traveled to Florida for a training week with Frances Tiafoe.

“I actually brought it up in front of Frances. I was like, ‘We keep having this argument. This week is super cool and he gets to hit with you guys and this is an unreal experience for him’. I was like, ‘Frances, what do you think? Does he need to be playing with better players? Or is our system okay?’ And Frances looked at Eliot and he goes: ‘Eliot, let me tell you one thing right now. If you aren’t the best player on the court, you’re the hitting partner, so what do you want to be? You want to be the player or the hitting partner?’ And that sort of put things in perspective for him.” 

Cruz said: “I was always so impressed with him at that time, of how humble he was and how little he cared about who was on the other side of the net. He cared about winning, about competing, and he cared about things that he was working on, and that was always so apparent… I always felt a sense of respect and a sense of focus and desire, improving and being a good teammate.”

Spizzirri climbed as high as No. 20 in the ITF Junior Rankings and competed in the boys’ singles draw at all four majors. One of the highlights, though, was his training session with Federer ahead of the 2019 US Open. 

“He made Eliot feel comfortable, he asked Eliot if he had any questions. He sat with him and talked with him for a while – him and me and his coach. That was an unreal experience, he took a lot from that for sure,” Hirscht said. “I think [he took] the message that I was trying to sell him his whole life. There’s a right way to go about things and a wrong way. Here’s arguably one of the greatest players of all time and he’s humble, and he doesn’t have an ego, and he’s not disrespectful, and he could be. 

“But he’s welcoming, and he’s a hard worker and actually whoever’s hitting with him can make sure that it’s working for them too. And it was a good example of everything I’d been trying to sell him for his whole life.” 

Less than two months later, Spizzirri committed to play college tennis for the University of Texas, where he crafted a standout career. During his final two seasons, he spent much of his time as the No. 1 player in the country and twice qualified for the ATP Next Gen Accelerator. 

The one goal he fell short of was winning a national championship with his team. In this year’s final, Texas Christian University defeated the University of Texas 4-3. Spizzirri led the No. 1 singles match against Jack Pinnington Jones 6-2, 4-2, but was unable to convert.

“I think that match when we lost in the [national final] to TCU, was the most disappointing loss of my career and our team’s career. It was the hardest loss I’ve ever taken, especially given that I knew that was our last opportunity as a team to give that a shot and try to win a [championship],” Spizzirri said. “So being a set and a break up with some some looks to get a double break and not converting in that match certainly taught me a lot.”  

The match meant everything to Spizzirri. But five days later he returned to Texas and was with his friends when he realised everything was actually okay. It was not the end of the world. Life was still great, he had just lost a tennis match.

The home favourite was in a similar situation on Thursday in the final round of qualifying at the US Open, where he let slip four match points in the second set of his match against #NextGenATP star Joao Fonseca, one of the most highly touted prospects in the sport. It was the national championship all over again, until it wasn’t. Spizzirri remained calm to win the match in three sets and qualify for the main draw.

“I felt a little bit more comfortable to go for it and kind of let it fly, because I knew that if I had lost that match, I still would have been happy. I would have been able to sleep that night knowing that I went for it and I gave it my best, and that’s all I could ask for,” Spizzirri said. “I just think it was another opportunity for me to fight off some pressure that I put on myself. And yeah, obviously it’s just a big moment in my career, and so I’m glad that I was able to handle it better than maybe I did in the national championship, but I’ll always learn from that.”

For years, Spizzirri would sit in a car with Hirscht for more than an hour each way to train at Flushing Meadows. This was a second home to him.  

“Those drives were a lot of my coach, Patrick Hirscht, preaching to me whether it was good or bad,” Spizzirri said. “There were a lot of drives that I left this place and he was yelling at me in the car. We were going to run sprints. There were also a lot of ones where I would look out the window and I’d see Arthur Ashe Stadium, and just couldn’t even fathom playing in it.”

Competing in the US Open seemed far-fetched. On Tuesday, it will become a reality. 

“It’s crazy. I used to sneak around here and find the exits and entries in all the gyms. I’ve been going to this tournament since I was as young as I can remember,” Spizzirri said. “Now to be in the main draw, it’s surreal, and I just hope to keep it going. I’m just going to try to enjoy this moment, because it’s not every day, and it feels super special. I think the most special thing is just my friends and family were here to support me.”