Despite Slam Match Wins, Holt Knows Challenger Dues Must Be Paid

Having won opening-round matches at the past two majors, Brandon Holt could be forgiven for wanting to spend less time on the ATP Challenger Tour and steel his focus on tour-level events.

But at No. 199 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, the 24-year-old American realises that he still has dues to pay before earning the right to play at the top echelon of the sport on a consistent basis. In fact, the son of former WTA World No. 1 Tracy Austin is thankful to be playing tennis at all.

A career-threatening hand injury in 2021 nearly forced Holt to hang up his racquets and put his Real Estate Development degree to use. But now that he’s 100 per cent healthy, Holt is aiming towards more success on the Challenger Tour.

“In 2021, I went to an ITF tournament in Tunisia and instantly started feeling pain in my hand,” Holt said. “I came home and went to the doctor and was told it was this, then it was that. It ended up being a tumour in my bone [osteoid osteoma] that was growing. They had to do surgery on it. It was like touch and go, they didn’t really know if I’d be able to play again.

“If they did one wrong technique, they would basically burn the tendon, 50/50 chance they’d burn the tendon and never be able to play again. Then they opted to do a different [procedure], where they basically cut one-fourth of the bone out and repacked it in.

“There was a while where I’d walk out of a doctor’s office thinking I would never play again. That was a tough time because I was like ‘My whole life I’ve dreamed of playing this sport and worked so hard for it and just because I have this thing in my hand means I can never play again.’”

Holt has been enjoying a rapid rise up the Pepperstone ATP Rankings the past six months, which included two victories at the hard-court majors. At the Australian Open, the American advanced through qualifying and played back-to-back five setters before falling in the second round (l. Bautista Agut). The strong start to the year was a welcome sight to Holt, who was World No. 531 a year ago before embarking on his career-best season.

In 2022, the California native made his first professional breakthrough at his home Slam, the US Open, where as a qualifier he defeated 10th seed Taylor Fritz. A few weeks before his Grand Slam upset, Holt was battling in qualifying at the Challenger Tour event in Chicago, Illinois and couldn’t have dreamed of a Top-15 win on Grandstand.

His Flushing Meadows debut, which came 41 years after his mother’s second major title, quickly grabbed tennis fans’ attention.

Growing up in a tennis family can lead to high expectations and immense pressure. But Holt said his childhood was a blessing and he’s thankful that his family helped him see tennis as a hobby first before it became his full-time occupation.

“I think my parents did a really good job of raising my brothers [Dylan and Sean] and I to be really well-rounded people,” Holt said. “My parents weren’t the tennis parents that are too much. Growing up, there were a lot of times where we were like, ‘Look at that guy, he’s crazy!’ It was never that way with my family. My grandparents would bring me to every single match, they never missed a match. My whole family is really close.

“My parents did a good job of letting me play all the sports and focus on school. Tennis was never the priority growing up. It was never play tennis and everything else is secondary.”

Holt’s family recalls him dragging a racquet everywhere at a young age. He would walk around the house swinging at anything, such as a chair or someone’s ankle. While Holt claims he used to make his coaches mad by constantly trying to attempt Gael Monfils’ incredible shotmaking rather than focusing on the assigned drills, it all turned out okay for the American. He went on to play college tennis at the University of Southern California, where he was a four-time ITA All-American before turning pro in 2020.

“Going to college allowed me to get a lot stronger because you have a lot of time in the weight room,” Holt said. “It’s kind of hard when you’re on Tour to get a good training block, so college is like four years of consistently working out. Also, there [are] coaches that have a four year plan with your game. They’re like, ‘This is the player we think you can become.’ Then they have years to progress you to that point. You show up every day and they have one goal to get better and closer to that goal. They have a tailored plan for every player and I think that’s huge.”

Still early in his young career, it’s only a matter of time before Holt is lifting his hands around his maiden Challenger Tour trophy and making more noise at the Grand Slams.