WASHINGTON — Fresh off his best showing at a Grand Slam tournament, Sam Querrey is ready to get back to the grind.
Querrey returns to action at this week’s Citi Open from the Rock Creek Park Tennis Center, brimming with confidence after reaching the quarterfinals at Wimbledon earlier this month. Along the way, Querrey picked up one of the biggest wins of his career — a third-round upset of world No.1 Novak Djokovic.
“It was an incredible 10 days for me and something I’ll always remember,” Querrey said at the Citi Open on Monday. “I made the most of it afterwards and did some things [during] my week at home.”
Querrey took some time off after Wimbledon, returning to California to rest ahead of a busy hardcourt season. He also took advantage of a few requests appearing on Good Morning America, throwing out the first pitch at a Los Angeles Dodgers game and taking part in a GQ photo shoot.
“That’s usually not my normal week,” he quipped.
The question after Wimbledon is whether his successful run can become his new normal on the tennis court.
“I’m still really confident after that,” said Querrey, who climbed 12 ranking spots after Wimbledon to No. 29 in the world.
This marks the first time that he’s cracked the top 30 since Aug. 2013.
“Practice this week has gone well and I’m hoping to just continue off that great week. I guess time will tell, we’ll see what happens, but the game feels great, I’m feeling confident and I’m ready to go this week,” Querrey said.
Querrey is seeded eighth this week and received a first-round bye. The hard-serving American will face either Alex Kuznetsov or Bjorn Fratangelo in Round 2.
This marks Querrey’s eighth appearance at the Citi Open and the 28-year-old has come to appreciate the Washington, D.C. area, where he will return next month as a member of the Washington Kastles in World Team Tennis.
“I like a lot of things about the city,” said Querrey, who had a private tour of the White House over the weekend.
“Walking around is nice, it’s fun to see a lot of the monuments. It’s a nice tournament especially if you bring family and friends because there’s a lot to do in the city. As far as playing as World Team Tennis, the Kastles are obviously the best team, Mark Ein is such a great owner and they’re fun to play for.”
Querrey’s only complaint may be the playing conditions with temperatures expected in the 90s throughout the week.
“I practiced today and it was brutal,” he said after a 90-minute workout. “This is literally the hottest place I’ve ever played in, like this particular week. I struggled today in the heat and I think for a lot of the guys coming from Europe where it rained every day and it was 60 degrees and now all of a sudden it’s 95 and humid, the first two, three, four days are really difficult.”
