One of the most historic runs on the ATP Challenger Tour led Murphy Cassone to do an in-depth study. Now, those countless hours of watching film are paying off.
Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor went on the longest match-win streak in Challenger history in 2021, when he claimed 25 consecutive victories and five titles from September through November. Griekspoor, now No. 35 in the PIF ATP Rankings, finished that season with eight Challenger trophies, marking another record.
Cassone was then a freshman at Arizona State University and if he was not studying for school, he was glued to Challenger TV.
“I think I watched every match. I was like, ‘What is this guy doing differently that he is able to just blow through this level?'” Cassone told ATPTour.com at this week’s Marketbeat Open, an ATP Challenger Tour event in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. “My game just naturally shifted to how he plays a little bit, just from watching so much of him. I think that really helped me a lot. He’s the only guy that I would say that I watched and spent a lot of time looking at.
“I would go to the courts at like 6:30 a.m., do school, turn on his match and watch a little bit of it.”
Now it is Cassone’s turn in the Challenger spotlight. Last week, the 22-year-old won his first trophy at that level in Calgary, Canada. During his title run, Cassone was also creating content for his Instagram account, which he utilises as a platform to produce coaching videos.
<img alt=”Murphy Cassone is crowned champion at the Calgary Challenger.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/10/23/21/04/cassone-calgarych-2024-trophy.jpg” />
Murphy Cassone is crowned champion at the Calgary Challenger. Credit: Kyle Clapham
The three-time ITA All-American started the account in March and has already gained nearly 11,000 followers. His goal is 25,000 followers by the time he graduates college next summer.
“I just like trying to do something productive and something that can bring value to me,” Cassone said. “I would see a lot of guys on Instagram who knew nothing about tennis, but they made really good content. Or they had a good tennis IQ, but made bad content. So I was like, ‘If we can bring those two together, I think it would do really well’.”
Cassone’s latest videos include how, ‘The best players are the best movers’ and ‘Three secrets to unlock your serve’s full potential’. A native of Overland Park, Kansas, Cassone has already received positive feedback.
“It feels pretty cool when people reach out and say, ‘Hey, this really helped me. Thank you for the advice.’ A guy texted me the other day, ‘Your advice really helped. A school sent me an offer,’” Cassone said. “That’s pretty cool. I thought it would be a good way to give back and maybe one day if we get big enough, turn it into a business and move from that.”
From ages 10 to 16, Cassone split time between Kansas and Florida, receiving instruction from notable coaches such as Rick Macci and Dave Rineberg. Cassone’s start in tennis came even before he can remember.
“From what my dad has told me, they had me in diapers on the court just running around, swinging the racquet,” Cassone said. “Instead of my dad leaving me at a daycare, he would take me and play tennis with me. While his friends played tennis with each other, he was on the court with me. I think [my parents] did a really good job of investing in me at a real young age.”
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Cassone’s parents, Ralph and Wendy, have long had a positive impact on Murphy and his four siblings. Cassone’s father owns an agriculture electronics company, Sensor-1, which manufactures products such as planter monitors and sensors, GPS receivers for tractors, and more components.
“He started it in his garage in Kansas and he’s built a really good business for himself,” Cassone said. “He’s always up at 4 a.m., just putting in the hours for us. He never buys anything for himself, he just wants to give us what he never had as a kid. It’s really amazing what he does for our family.”
Overland Park, Kansas may not be a hotbed of professional tennis players, but Cassone is not the first to hail from the Kansas City suburb. Jack Sock, former World No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings, was born in Lincoln, Nebraska but moved to Overland Park as a child.
While Sock was on Tour, he would often visit Overland Park to see family and would hit at the local tennis club with junior players, such as Cassone.
“It would be him on one side and then me and another guy on the other side, two versus one. I remember guys would always get kicked off the court with him since they were missing, but I just tried to make every ball for him,” Cassone said. “Those were some good memories being around him in that atmosphere. I was 12 to 14 [years old] I think when I was with Jack… He’s kind of like a legend there.”
When Cassone was in the US Open qualifying draw in 2022, he rode the bus to the tournament site alongside Sock, who that week played his final major tournament.
“I hadn’t seen him since I was like 14 and I didn’t think he would recognise me, but he did and we started talking,” Cassone said. “It was a pretty cool moment.”
Cassone’s hard work has been yielding results, with no better example than last week in Calgary. He advanced through qualifying en route to lifting his biggest career title. Along the way, Cassone fended off five match points in his first-round match against Ryan Seggerman, who struck 42 aces in that three-set battle. Cassone also overcame food poisoning at the start of the week.
“The adversity and all those little battles I think is what I will remember,” said Cassone, now at a career-high World No. 363 in the PIF ATP Rankings. “I just kept playing, doing the right things and trying to make it work.”
Fans will only begin to see more of Cassone on the Challenger circuit. Thanks to his collegiate success, Cassone has twice qualified for the Next Gen Accelerator Programme. He has three more of his six Accelerator spots to gain qualifying entry at select Challenger tournaments until the end of 2024. In 2023, Cassone used all six of his Accelerator spots to enter Challenger qualifying events.
“It makes scheduling a lot easier because I have that backup just in case my ranking doesn’t get me in. It helps me plan out my schedule,” Cassone said. “It’s a huge help for me.”
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