Meet Beibit Zhukayev: What Kazakhs have learned from Federer, Nadal & Djokovic | ATP Tour

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Meet Beibit Zhukayev: What the Kazakhs learned from Federer, Nadal & Djokovic

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October 18, 2024

Almaty’s hosting of the first ATP tournament proved to be a historic event for one of its citizens, too.

Beibit Zhukayev competes in the first quarter-final of the ATP Tour on Friday at the Almaty Open, and his parents are also expected to attend.

“I’m very happy that I reached the ATP quarterfinals, especially playing at home,” said the 24-year-old player, who advanced to the last 8 when Tomas Machac, who was raping, retired due to illness. four games on Thursday. “It’s an unbelievable feeling. I am very proud of myself.”

Zhukayev lives near the mountains, about 20 to 25 minutes from the tournament site without traffic, said the No. 213 player in the PIF ATP Rankings.

When traffic jams in Kazakhstan’s most populous city, the commute takes an hour.

He mixed sleeping in his own bed with going to the official tournament hotel, depending on the circumstances.

Zhukayev won’t need to travel to the Almaty Arena early on Friday as her quarter-final against Karen Khachanov is on the nightly show at 7pm.

A win over the third seed would send Zhukayev’s PIF ATP Live Rankings to the top of No. 171 in May and brings him closer to his “first goal” of breaking the Top 100.

“Little by little, step by step, I am improving this year,” said Zhukayev. “I’m happy with the situation I’m in right now here. So I hope to improve a lot by the end of the year.”

The end of 2023 gave Zhukayev great reason for optimism. He collected his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Charlottesville last November to help secure his first Top 200 finish in the year-end PIF ATP Rankings.

But illness and injury hampered the progress of the big server, who told the ATP last year that he started playing tennis at the age of eight while on holiday in Turkey.

“This year was not easy,” he said. “I did well my first season, but then I got sick. I had a virus in my body and I lost the form I had built before the season.”

He still made the trip to Australia, but he wasn’t 100 percent. He missed another month with an illness after that, but felt his condition improve on the grass.

To that end, Zhukayev came closer to reaching a Grand Slam title than ever when he reached the third and final round of Wimbledon qualifying.

However, a lower back injury halted his progress during the North American hard court turn.

With his back feeling better, Zhukayev qualified for the Rolex Shanghai Masters for the second year in a row – his first ATP victory came in Shanghai last season before losing to Khachanov despite 20 aces – ahead of Almaty.

“In China, I started to feel better,” said Zhukayev. “My spine got better. And, yes, Shanghai wasn’t bad. ”

The ATP Masters 1000 ended with Jannik Sinner beating Novak Djokovic. Djokovic, along with fellow members of the “Big Three” Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, were Zhukayev’s tennis idols.

“When I was growing up, I always watched Federer,” said Zhukayev. “I like the way he played. And Nadal [I liked] because of his performances and his character. He always fought until the end. And Djokovic too.

“He was last in that company but finally he is the greatest now, the greatest tennis player of all time.”

Djokovic also has ties to Kazakhstan, having claimed the title in Astana in 2022 before the event was moved to Almaty.