Bigun: No one is here for fun... everyone is here to win
“Go LA Lakers,” beamed Kaylan Bigun at the start, and end, of our chat half an hour after he had come through 7-6(5) 3-6 7-6(8) against the very-well supported Czech player Petr Brunclik out on Court 13 at the Australian Open Junior Championships.
At two hours and 18 minutes in the blazing sun it was an epic and confronting contest, shaded 10-8 by the Californian in two hours and 18 minutes. The Australian Open Junior championships at it's toughest with an ebb and flow to the match which saw both players in the ascendancy and which was ultimately decided by the smallest of margins, Begun the deserved winner on a 10 point tie-break. Just.
It was also hot, Melbourne sizzling in 30 degrees before midday even, ‘muggy’ Bigun termed it accurately, both players almost shouldering each other aside to pull out an iced towel from the courtside fridge midway through the first set.
“I got an email saying about the ice towels and I was like ‘Okay’…,” said Bigun, not then fully understanding of the Aussie heat.
“I was using them yesterday in my matches and they really help to cool you down a bit. I put them on my back and face and you feel a lot better.”
They were irrelevant almost as an exit loomed with Bigun down 2-4 in the final set tie break until a streak of six straight points put him in control.
“I played here last year and I lost on a long tie-break so I came in with not so fond memories of them,” he said. “I wasn’t even counting in the tie-break, I was just playing the ball. A good majority of it is instinct but I have a mental coach and I have been working on a few key phrases that I tell myself to help me stay present within the point.
“I bring these to mind, be present and that’s what I have been using throughout these long matches. I would love to play a shorter match (he has gone the full distance in all three singles matches this week to-date) but in the long ones I know I have the physicality and mentality to go the distance.”
Bigun faces the impressive second seed Nicolai Budkov Kjaer in Thursday’s quarter-final. Anything can happen, he says.
“I feel that everyone is the best player in their country or the best player in their regions. No one is here for fun, everyone is here to win and so the level is really deep. I played all the slams last year and everyone is good and you can have so many matches and upsets.”
Regardless of what may, or may not, happen Bigun is thoroughly enjoying his second visit to Australia (he lost in the opening round a year ago). Food is a particular bonus he said.
“I love sushi hand-rolls. We don’t have those in the US so I have been snacking on those a lot. There are a few restaurants I walk to with the boys (fellow competitors) from the Albert Park hotel (near to Melbourne Park). A good amount of my friends are from Australia.
“I am really close to these guys, they want me to stay after the tournament and play some [ITF World Tennis Tour events] but I am from LA and have to go home.
“Go Lakers.”
And he’s off. The boys' singles is a competition of the utmost quality and compelling characters, some of whom will be staples of the professional tour for years.
That we never quite know who they will be only adds to its quality and mystique.