After successful Slam season, Mackenzie McDonald seeks points overseas

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When American tennis fans reflect on the 2018 season and examine players who captured their imagination, many will single out Mackenzie McDonald for two primary reasons. The first was when he moved safely through the qualifying at the Australian Open, won a round in the main draw, and then pushed No. 3 seed Grigor Dimitrov to his limits in a tumultuous five-set clash under the lights in Rod Laver Arena. McDonald lost 8-6 in the final set, but not before winning countless new admirers who had never seen him play before.

The second instance of McDonald’s prominence in the public eye this year was at Wimbledon, where he barely made the cut for the main draw but progressed all the way to the round of 16.

At 23, McDonald has climbed the ladder of success on the ATP World Tour without much fanfare, and currently this earnest American competitor stands at No. 79 in the world, rising significantly from his 2017 year-end status at No. 176.

“For the rest of the year,” McDonald told me in a telephone interview last week, “I want to go far in at least one of these tournaments I am playing, and hopefully a couple. I am going to Asia to play Shenzhen, Tokyo and Shanghai and after I go straight to Europe to play Antwerp, Basel and Paris. Then I will call it a year.

"I am pretty stoked and looking forward to this whole swing. I definitely want to hold my ranking inside the Top 100. Next year, I would like to get to the Top 50.”

Photos courtesy ATPWorldTour.com

Wayne Ferreira—a player who peaked at No. 6 in the world in 1995 and 1996—was one of McDonald’s coaches through his junior years up until college, and maintains a close relationship with his former pupil. He believes McDonald can realize his goals, and genuinely feels that McDonald is “a great and very sweet kid.”

“If he can improve his serve,” says Ferreira, “he can make the Top 50. He moves as well if not better than all of them, hits the ball well from the baseline, and is a great competitor."

"He is not a very big guy and doesn’t have a very big serve. He isn’t getting free points. He doesn’t need to serve as hard as a lot of these guys, but he can use it constructively. He was throwing the ball too far behind the back of his head so he and his coach Mat Cloer are trying to get the toss further out to the right so he can come around the ball more and have less of a kick. They are trying to develop a much stronger first serve for him.”

Elaborating on the challenges ahead for McDonald, Ferreira notes that the youngster needs to continue improving his fitness. But McDonald is in accord with Ferreira that the serve is his chief challenge.

“The way I play points after the serve has improved because I am picking up the ball way better, and I am able to redirect without being in a negative position, even on my second serve," says McDonald. "My percentage of first-serve points won is way higher than it was. The numbers don’t lie and those percentages have increased my number of wins.”

One key to McDonald’s success this season was his scheduling. While other Americans ranked in and around his region competed in American Challenger tournaments in hopes of securing a French Open wild card, McDonald went to Asia for Challenger events. Previously, not long after returning from Australia, he had performed dynamically in a Challenger at Dallas, upending Frances Tiafoe, Tim Smyczek and Denis Kudla before losing the final to Kei Nishikori.

“My biggest goal at the time was to start playing ATP events, but I still had a ways to go in the rankings to get into those tournaments," McDonald recollects. "So I sat down with my coach Mat and decided I should go to Asia rather than playing the clay-court swing here in the U.S. I thought I could boost my ranking before the grass-court season, which I felt would be good for my game style. So I played the Challengers in Asia for long term gain. The clay would have been more of a grind for me.

"Because of Asia I got into the main draw at Wimbledon, making it into the second to last spot.”

Having stood under the spotlight in Australia during his riveting collision with Dimitrov, McDonald was nonetheless in awe of his surroundings at Wimbledon, although he had acquired some grass-court confidence by virtue of a quarterfinal showing at the ATP 250 event at ’s-Hertogengbosch in the Netherlands.

“I remember my first-round Wimbledon match with Ricardas Berankis, being struck by the moment of walking out on a Wimbledon court for the first time," says McDonald. "I played more nervously than I would have liked, but somehow found a way to win after I was down set points for him to go two sets to love."

With his first Wimbledon match experience behind him, McDonald played his second-rounder, against Nicolas Jarry, with less pressure. In the third round, he was given a tremendous opportunity in the form of Guido Pella, who had upset the 2017 finalist, Marin Cilic.

"I started putting pressure on myself because I thought I had a really good shot," says McDonald. "It took a lot of my team to calm me down. I got him in straight sets in a really clean match. In the round of 16 I played Milos Raonic and I was able to squeeze out a set. I learned a lot from that match. It was my first time playing a server like that on grass. He aced me 30-something times. It was hard to read his serve but I competed well. Going to the round of 16 and making the second week at Wimbledon is unforgettable.”

Yet also etched in his mind is pushing Dimitrov down to the wire in Melbourne, relishing the feeling of playing in front of an animated and appreciative audience on the tournament's biggest stage, and losing a contest he felt he could have won.

“I was pretty confident after winning four matches already in the tournament—going through qualies for the first time and winning my first main draw Grand Slam match. Stepping out on the court to play Dimitrov, I was really loose. I went toe to toe with the guy. I truly think I I was the better player that day, but he snuck away at the end. But walking off the court afterwards was probably my favorite moment of the year because I really felt I could compete with the best players.”

That has been McDonald's primary objective all along—ever since he was a top junior hoping he could win the coveted National 18 Championships at Kalamazoo in 2013; on to his successful quest for the NCAA singles title three years late; and through his time as a professional since the summer of 2016.

Going to UCLA rather than straight out into the pro game was wise. The full value of that decision came into view during his junior year, when McDonald captured not only the singles at the NCAA Championships, but also the doubles.

“It was definitely a life changing decision and I am really happy I chose UCLA," McDonald says. "Having the opportunity of playing for a team and getting an education at the same time is a big treat. It took maybe a little bit of time away from my pro career, but it was worth it.”

McDonald knew early in his junior year that he would be turning pro at the end of that season, and even thought about not returning. Ranked in the Top 3 in the county, McDonald had already competed well in various Challenger tournaments and earned some professional ranking points.

"I had the capability to go pro," he says. "but that extra year of maturing and just working on myself was honestly what helped me so much.”

Once he did make the jump, McDonald quickly realized the initial stages of his pro career were going to be an entirely new—and arduous—experience.

“My first five matches on the tour I lost. I had a tough loss at the US Open two years ago after getting a wildcard for winning the NCAAs. I was up two sets against a qualifier and ended up losing in five. Looking back, it fired me up to keep going, keep plugging away and be persistent. I finally got some wins later in 2016 on the California swing in Tiburon and Stockton. That was really big going into 2017.”

The 2017 season was, quite simply, a period of adjustment. McDonald and his coach, Brad Stine, parted ways in the summer and Cloer took over.

“He really took control of the wheel and kept me on track," says McDonald. "He has helped me so much with my game and mentality and strategy every single step of the way. Last year I did not have any great leaps but it was steady and I kept going up in the rankings.”

WATCH: Mackenzie McDonald vs. Andy Murray

This year has been a time of triumph for McDonald, despite some undeniably hard losses, most notably to Andy Murray in Cincinnati (3-6, 6-4, 7-5).

“That was a good opportunity that kind of slipped away," says McDonald. "I thought I had the match against an Andy Murray who isn’t playing like Andy Murray yet. I live and learn with that one.”

In turn, he was beaten in a five-set duel against the wily campaigner Robin Haase at the US Open in the first round. But McDonald knows he is moving in the right direction, and facing the future optimistically.

“Long term I would love to get to the Top 10," he says. "I am taking it step by step. I really want to put titles to my name.

"Deep down within me, I feel there is nothing I can’t achieve, so I just want to dig it out and hopefully lift a Masters 1000 trophy on a big stage.”