The waiting game of Raphael Collignon is finally finished at the US Open 2025.
After a few lost chances earlier in the year, the 23-year-old Belgian noted his first main-draw victory in a major by beating on Monday in New York Daniel Elahi Galan. Two days later, Collignon supported that performance with the biggest victory of his career, a victory of five sets against number 12 in the PIF ATP ranking, Casper Ruud.
Collignon’s 6-4, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 Triumph against Ruud did not come easy. The World No. 107 served three double mistakes in the last game of the game before he finally crossed the line to determine a third round meeting with the 20th Seed Jiri Lehecka.
“I knew I could double the mistake, but I tried to tell myself that I would try to go for it and try to go for Serve and Volley,” Collignon told Atptour.com after the game. “I missed one or two centimeters, but it was a good choice, I think because I did a lot of serving and volley during the game and he missed the return a lot. I said,” Try to go for it, “and I managed to close it, so I’m super happy.”
Collignon had only won two matches at touring level before beating Ruud in New York. Photocredit: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour
The father of Collignon, Frederic, is a brain surgeon in Belgium. The couple regularly talks about ways to keep cool and together under pressure, even if the similarities between their respective jobs end there.
“It is not a point where I am normally so good, keep my calm at difficult moments,” Collignon said. “I work really hard with a mental preparation coach to be better at that, because I am not a man who is very calm when I am stressed. My father is very proud of me and I try to make him proud every day.
“I ask him a lot of questions about his work because I think it is very mentally, such as tennis. If he plays tennis, he is so tense, he can’t get a ball and panic. The next day he works on someone’s brain and saves life, so it’s very funny how the brain functions.”
The mental resilience of Collignon was certainly hit on the test in May when he, after he had risen to the top 100 of the PIF ATP rankings to secure direct access to the main table at Roland Garros, he broke his right thumb a week before the Klei Major after sliding at an ATP 500 in Hamburg. He finally let his Grand Slam bow in Wimbledon in July, but fell in straight sets to an inspired Marin Cilic.
“I missed the French open and it was heavy,” acknowledged Collignon, who earned two of his four ATP Challenger Tour titles on Clay. “Then I played my first Main-Draw match on a Grand Slam in Wimbledon, played against the very good Marin Cilic. I came here without expectations, but I tried to work every day during training and I am very happy that I was able to win my first two games.”
Perhaps the US Open Success Story from Collignon can be partially attributed to a man who has experience with participating in the largest stage of the tournament. His coach since 2020 is Steve Darcis, the former world no. 38, who played five -time champion Roger Federer in 2015 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“It’s funny because I like to ask him about his career, and at the start of the tournament I asked him what his best result was here,” said Collignon of Darcis. “I knew he played Roger in the second round and I wanted to know if he reached the third or fourth round.
“He told me that he always played well here, but always had difficult draws, so he lost the first or second round every year. It’s great to go further than he in one thing, because he had so many good results in his career.”
Away from Tennis follows Collignon Voetbal (with his favorite teams are Barcelona and Standard Liège) and bicycles, and he understands the need to keep different passions to help him to be able to cope with the intense character of life on tour.
“I think it is very important for a tennis player to have other interests outside of sport,” the Belgian said. “It is so heavy tennis, it requires so much energy with the mental part and the physical part, so if you can hang out with friends and not think about tennis, I think it is very important.
“Football and cycling, I try to follow it every day. I also like to shop, model and find beautiful pieces to wear. I love fashion a bit. I like to wear things that don’t wear many others. Otherwise I am a normal person. I love hanging around with my friends and enjoy life.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]
#Brain #surgeons #son #Collignon #finding #mental #lead #beat #Ruud