Sandgren reflects on his almost-win over Federer

In Tuesday's UTR All Access Series webinar, Tennys Sandgren chatted with Prakash Amritraj about his tennis journey.

The Tennessee native was introduced to the sport by his family. Both of his parents and his older brother played, and he spent endless hours on the court with his mother from the juniors up until college.

"I started homeschooling in fourth grade. So, early on tennis was my passion from an early age," Sandgren said.

Growing up, the world No. 55 played soccer and basketball, but tennis was always the priority. What drew him to the game was the individualistic qualities, having no one else to rely on but himself.

Having battled his way through the junior, college and ITF levels, Sandgren is now among the best in the world. In January, the 28-year-old reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, and held seven match points against Roger Federer before falling short.

"When you see somebody on TV that much and then you're on the other side of the net from him, and you're the guy that's playing against him," Sandgren said. "His sights are now on you and you're kind of like, woah, wait a second."

Even during the warm up, Sandgren was already tight, but he relished every second of the match and called the quarterfinal round "special." He also learned an important lesson:

"Even if you're down, the odds are against you, but your best chance is if you stay calm."

Before closing out the chat and answering fan questions, Sandgren gave some precious League of Legends advice and reminded the audience that he's much better at playing tennis than video games.