He last competed on the ATP World Tour in February 2015, when he took part in the Launceston Challenger. Now, more than eighteen months later, Bradley Klahn is finally taking his first tentative steps back towards the professional tennis circuit by taking part in the Champaign Challenger in the United States.
Klahn is an accomplished player, having reached a career-high of No.63 in March 2014. His surge up the rankings (he had only turned pro in 2012) came largely off the back of successes at Challenger level, winning five titles and reaching a further three finals over the course of the 2013-2014 seasons. Klahn seemed poised to join the consistent ranks of the ATP top 100. Results after his to-date final Challenger title in Traralgon, Australia were surprisingly poor given the left-hander’s evident ability. He lost in the first round of his final two events in 2014, before mixed results in the early 2015 season. Klahn seemed ill at ease and was losing at stages of tournaments that he had once dominated. It then emerged that Klahn was suffering from a health issue.
Klahn underwent back surgery, and for a while it seemed that a brief career that had started so promisingly had burnt out before it had truly begun. Bradley Klahn’s name seemed one that would be consigned to the history books as a player who disappeared after showing promise. Until now that is.
Klahn was given a wildcard into the qualifying for the Champaign challenger, winning three straight matches to make the main draw. Klahn then got some long overdue fortune as his opponent in the first round, the big serving Sam Groth, was forced to retire with a sinus infection. Klahn had just won the first set tie-break at the time of Groth’s withdrawal. Klahn then recovered from the loss of the first set to edge Tennys Sandgren to make the quarter-finals of his first tournament since February 2015.
Klahn is twenty-six years old, at a point where many players are at, or close to, their peak. Klahn in reality is still in the early stages of his professional career. He only turned pro in 2012 because, like many other Americans including John Isner and Steve Johnson, he opted to go the collegiate route first, playing for Stanford before turning pro. Klahn spent part of his absence from the tour assisting at his former school, as a volunteer coach.
“Stanford tennis meant a lot to me and I’ve really enjoyed working with the guys. We’ve got a great group of individuals who work hard and are a lot of fun to be around“.
Having given some time back, Klahn is nevertheless determined to get back to the professional game.
Klahn on his injury lay-off – “ I’ve been out over a year and had some struggles, up and down, and dealing with injuries is never easy. But I’m still 100% committed to getting back and I feel like I have a good plan right now in place to get me back out there. I don’t have any expectations as to when I’ll get back out there, but I love playing tennis, I love playing professionally, and when it’s taken away from you for a while it gets tricky. I certainly was doing well before I got injured and I’ve dealt with it a while. Now it’s just about finding that happiness and being really grateful for the opportunity that I have to still try and play, and work hard to get back out there.”
