Korea Holds Lifetime Of Memories For Millman

After 10 years as a professional, John Millman has seen plenty of things on tour that he can only shake his head and laugh about now.

“I was at a Futures tournament in Korea in 2012 and watching a doubles match. We hear this motorbike coming all of a sudden and a pizza delivery guy gets out. He then walked on court and tried to deliver the pizza to the guy getting ready to return serve,” laughed Millman. “It was so funny, but it also makes you appreciate it more when you move to up to the higher-tier tournaments.”

Since then, Millman’s memories of Korea have come from his results on the court. At this week’s $100,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Busan, he comes in as the No. 2 seed and has made his way through a potentially tricky draw with flying colours. In his quarter-final match on Friday against Liam Broady, Millman recorded a dominant double bagel victory that saw him drop just seven points in the second set.

Having reached the finals in Busan in 2012 and won two Futures events in Korea in 2014, Millman said he looks forward to playing here when he gets the chance.

“I play really well in Korea and Asia in general,” said Millman. “The Challengers here are well-run, it’s not too far away from Australia and the conditions are usually similar. Everyone is very nice to me, so it’s a real treat to play here.”

After an outstanding 2015 season on the ATP Challenger Tour that saw him win three singles titles and finish as runner-up in two other events, Millman has played exclusively on the ATP World Tour this year. Despite having solid results in 2016, he believes it’s important for him to occasionally play Challengers with the goal of making deep runs.

“I don’t think the level on the ATP Challenger Tour is that different from the level on the ATP World Tour,” he explained. “Men’s tennis is so strong these days and there are so many good players. This tournament is a great example of that because there aren’t any easy matches. I had to beat Austin Krajicek and Sergiy Stakhovsky just to get to the quarter-finals and they’ve both been in the Top 100.”

After advancing to the third round of this year’s Australian Open, Millman said he’s now setting his sights on reaching the second week of a Grand Slam. Having already moved through three matches this week in Busan, he’s confident he can do the same at Roland Garros.

“I’m just trying to get as many matches as I can now,” said Millman. “I’m very confident in my game and confident that all of these tournaments are the right preparation to lead me towards that.”