When Mackenzie McDonald battled Félix Auger-Aliassime for three and a half hours in the US Open opener, fans only got a glimpse of the time McDonald put in in her surprise win on Monday.
For both players, and hundreds of others in the wider tournament, a match day is more than a warm-up and the tournament itself. Preparation, of course, takes weeks and months, with grueling men’s and women’s professional tennis tours pushing players to seek higher rankings to gain a better path to Grand Slam tournaments.
And once they arrive in Queens, a new series of obstacles will emerge as the players adapt to the feel of the courts, the atmosphere of New York and the demands of one of the biggest sporting events in the world.
For McDonald, the 28-year-old American who broke into the top 50 of the singles rankings in 2022 and upset Rafael Nadal in the second round of this year’s Australian Open, preparations for the US Open began on August 22 when he arrived. in New York. McDonald, who is scheduled to play Croatia’s Borna Gojo in the second round on Wednesday, said he trained hard for his first few days, then taped lightly to recover before his four-set match against Auger- Aliassime.
Those skills, along with travel, can be repetitive. Jessica Pegula, the American ranked third among singles, last week compared the tour routine to “Groundhog Day,” the 1993 film in which a man relives a day. McDonald echoed that sentiment.
“Things can be monotonous week after week, locker room after locker room, hotel after hotel,” McDonald said. “It’s good to have little goals or little things that push you that make you believe you can be better.”
Two Days Off
Two days before his opening match, McDonald just couldn’t focus on his game. Before practice on Saturday, he had to go through a fan event organized by Wilson, his racket sponsor.
His day began at about 8:45 am as he walked down the lobby of his hotel in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan. A driver and SUV were waiting for him, his girlfriend and his trainer as they left the hotel.
On a normal day, the drive from Manhattan’s east side to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows Corona Park can take up to an hour in heavy traffic.
“It’s not easy,” McDonald said of the commute to Queens. “Every day, it definitely adds up.”
But on a Saturday morning, with little traffic and a pushy driver familiar with shortcuts, the trip was a brisk 21 minutes 16 seconds.
The quick trip gave McDonald extra time to drop off his bags before heading to the Wilson event, where he spent nearly half hour volleying with the kidsthen posed for photos and videos.
With that commitment fulfilled, McDonald can focus on more intense tennis for the rest of his day, starting by working with a physiotherapist and finding time to eat, and that’s followed by a two-hour practice.
McDonald’s first practice session is scheduled for noon against Marcos Giron, another American player, on Court 4 near Arthur Ashe Stadium. As McDonald and Giron went back and forth and played scores, dozens of fans stopped by to watch them. As their practice drew to a close, some of those fans began to gather courtside in hopes of an autograph or a photo. But McDonald had no time.
After shaking hands with Giron and his trainer, McDonald quickly grabbed his bags, and hurried off for his next practice on a court at the other end of the tennis center, about half a mile away.
To avoid players having to walk that far through a sea of fans, the US Open has vans that transport them and their trainers to the farthest practice courts. McDonald and his trainer got into a van, but the driver wanted to stay a few minutes longer to see if any other players were coming.
Already behind schedule, McDonald politely asked the driver if they could leave without waiting. In the early rounds of the tournament, when hundreds of players need to practice, court time is essential.
“They definitely show the appeal of the sport on TV,” McDonald said. “Everything behind the scenes, the day-to-day and the year-round tournaments that we play is what really brings us to these moments.”
By the time McDonald arrived at his next practice court, it was just after 2 p.m., and the sun was shining with temperatures in the 80s. He practiced for another hour before finally cooling off and heading back to his hotel to rest.
Final Training
On Sunday, McDonald wanted to reduce his workload to just one hour of tennis, so he would be fresher for his match the next day. He still doesn’t know his exact playing time, but since it will likely be in the afternoon, McDonald said he hopes to have an afternoon court slot on Sunday.
He is scheduled to play Lloyd Harris of South Africa at 4pm on Court 5, where McDonald is scheduled to play the following day.
“It’s more of a chiller day for me,” McDonald said, adding that the rest of his Sunday will be spent resting, hydrating and “getting my mind off tennis a little bit.”
But even when he’s not practicing, McDonald said there’s other preparation that goes into playing a match, including creating a game plan and looking at analytics.
“The mental preparation for my fight on Monday started when that draw came out,” he said.
Match day
Before McDonald’s match on Monday, there are three others scheduled on Court 5, starting at 11 a.m. The next day’s scheduling often leaves players scrambling to figure out how long each of the those matches so they can plan the perfect time to leave their hotel.
But trying to make those predictions can be a gamble when rain or a long five-set men’s match can delay the start time of another match. In the majors, McDonald said he likes to arrive four hours before a match to be treated by a physiotherapist, hit with a partner for half an hour, eat lunch and then prepare his sports drinks and racket.
“There’s really a lot of little nuances that go into part of each day that you’re really immersed in,” he says. “Everything is invested in what will prepare me the best to play this match today.”
McDonald and Auger-Aliassime finally took Court 5 around 5:45 pm, and after a quick warm-up, it was 5:51 pm when the umpire, Jaume Campistol, said: “Ready? Play.”
Right from the start, the match looked like it was going to be a long contest. It took one hour and nine minutes for McDonald to win the first set in a tiebreaker.
Auger-Aliassime took the second set, but after that McDonald settled down. As McDonald and Auger-Aliassime played, cheers overflowed from Arthur Ashe Stadium outside the venue, and could be heard on Court 5. At one point in the fourth set, Auger-Aliassime appeared to complain to the chair manager about noise coming from Ashe.
Eventually, after more than three hours on court, McDonald prevailed, winning the last five points of the fourth set to win, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, and advance to the second circle.
Before his win, McDonald said that each incremental victory motivates him on tour. The drive to get ahead, he said, drives him to long training sessions, commuting and extensive travel.
“I want to win a title,” said McDonald, who has made one single final in his career, losing to Italy’s Jannik Sinner at the 2021 Citi Open in Washington, DC “I always see that every week, your chance every one. week, could be that week that can change things, and I think that’s the dream we’re all chasing.”
And after he defeated Auger-Aliassime, the routine of mental and physical preparation for Round 2 began again.
