ABILENE – Life as a professional tennis player has been quite the grind for former Abilene Christian all-America Hans Hach.
Since his distinguished collegiate career came to an end in April, Hach has been traveling almost non-stop across the United States in search ATP points as part of the ITF Futures Tour. His destinations have included tournaments hosted by clubs in Godfrey, Ill., Joplin, Pittsburgh and Rochester.
The Culiacan, Mexico, native has experienced early success through his four events as evident by a 12-4 singles record that includes main-draw wins over Timothy Sahr Kpulu – a 29-year-old, ATP-ranked competitor from Sierra Leone – and Andre Dome, who finished the spring ranked 25th nationally by the ITA after posting a 23-4 mark as a senior at Cal Poly.
Hach, who is currently ranked No. 1531 by the ATP, was slated to play again this week in Edwardsville, Ill., but opted to rest and recover in Abilene for a short time before resuming to his demanding schedule next week in El Paso. He then plans to visit Toronto in early September for three straight hard-court tournaments before moving on to California.
For Hach, one of the toughest aspects about being a young professional has been gutting his way through the qualifying draws, some of which start with as many as 128 players.
"I wasn't ready to play against that many people on clay when the tour started in June," Hach said. "I had to train hard and get in shape, so I waited for the Rochester tournament (June 24), which only had a 64-player qualifying draw. I got there on a Friday, and then played Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Then I had doubles Tuesday before starting the main draw on Wednesday.
"Qualifying for these futures tournaments in the United State is incredibly tough," he added. "There are so many players – mostly college kids – and a lot of who are ranked in the top-10 (NCAA)."
Hach's run in Rochester started with a straight-set win over Southern New Hampshire's Mitchell Dobek followed by a comeback victory against Ohio State's two-time all-America Peter Kobelt, 5-7, 7-5, 6-0. He then defeated Utah sophomore Rafael Davidian, 6-3, 6-3, to reach his first main draw. Davidian was one of Germany's top-10 junior players.
Hach fell to Illinois' Stephen Hoh, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (4), in his main-draw debut, but the very next weekend in Pittsburgh he rattled off three consecutive clay-court victories in the qualifying rounds before capturing his three-set win over Sahr Kpulu. In round two, however, he fell to UCLA sophomore and ITA all-America, Marcos Giron, 6-3, 7-5.
Having to face so many different players from various age groups and abilities within a single week forced Hach to change how he approaches the opposition.
"I'm now going to watch the people who I'll be playing," he said. "I have to do it. I have to know more about these guys than I'm used to … and all these big names – UCLA, Virginia, Stanford – I can't let that get in my head. I have to prove that I'm the more experienced and mature player.
"Playing at ACU, I used to seeing the big names and sometimes I'd think they're better than me. But now I think maybe not or that I'm not too far off. The names can make me think twice until I remember that this is now my career, and a lot of these college kids are using these tournaments to build their momentum heading into the fall."
Hach again swept through qualifying in Joplin, Mo., with victories over American youngsters Samuel Shropshire, Jeremy Dubin and Brett D. Clark. Shropshire is an 18-year-old blue-chip recruit who's on his way to play at Northwestern, while Clark recently finished his first year at North Carolina with a 20-12 record.
In the Joplin main draw, Hach forced Dome to retire in the third set up 3-0, but later fell to countryman Daniel Garza in three sets. Garza is 28-years-old has been part of eight Davis Cup teams for Mexico.
The following week in Godfrey, Ill., Hach received a first-round qualifying bye and his first national ranking at No. 1926. But he was tested early by another Northwestern recruit, Konrad Zieba, in the second round and was then edged by third-seeded Jared Donaldson in his following match.
Hach's next goal is to push his national ranking into the 900s, which should allow him to start in the main draws with a bit more frequency. He estimates that he'll need to win about 10 more ATP points in order to start on Tuesdays rather than the week before.
Go to Hans Hach.com for more information.
