Tristan Boyer was in a battle during the biggest match of his life Tuesday at the Australian Open. The American found a way to win the fourth set against Federico Coria 7-5 to earn a deciding set and in the stands, a 77-year-old Californian stood from his seat.
“Woo!” Boyer’s grandfather, William, shouted with his arms raised.
Boyer, a qualifier, claimed the final set 6-1 and is now 4-0 with his grandfather in attendance at Melbourne Park. William had never travelled to Australia and was keen to make the trip. Boyer’s mother, Shari, is also in town.
“Many people my age don't even have grandparents. I have all four of mine, and they're all really healthy, which is something I'm grateful for all the time. My dad's parents live in Florida, so I don't see them as much. But I see my mom's parents very often and I'm really close to my grandpa,” Boyer told ATPTour.com. “We're just buddies. We're close, and he's just such a good guy. I love having him around. Having him here was great. Having him here in that match calmed me down a little bit.”
It was a tense day for the American, who was “super nervous” and “really tight” competing in the main draw of a major for the first time. When Boyer saw his grandfather in the crowd on Court 13, it was a reminder of how much he loves tennis and that he was playing for fun.
“Having outside people who aren't part of the tennis team helps so much with that. So he's here helping me with that, and it's great to see him. I'm so happy he's healthy. He's 77, he's doing great. He's walking around. He's competing with my mom about who gets more steps,” Boyer said. “They're walking everywhere. We had to move apartments because we didn't book [the first] one long enough. And so we're in Docklands now. They walked three miles to the club today to get to the match.”
William lives in Long Beach, about 30 miles from Boyer’s Altadena home. It takes 45 minutes to drive to one another’s home when they are in California. On this trip, Boyer, his mother, grandfather and coach, Alejandro Fabbri, were originally staying towards the top of the Melbourne CBD.
“My mom cooked dinner last night because I didn't want to go out before the match,” Boyer said. “She cooked chicken and potatoes, salad, nice chicken, crispy potatoes. Grandpa was there, coach was there. We had a nice dinner. I packed my stuff to move apartments.”
It was a nice family atmosphere, especially given what has been going on back home in California. Wildfires have wreaked havoc on the state, uprooting countless lives, including Boyer’s father’s. Chris Boyer, who is safe, evacuated their home in Altadena and moved for the time being to a friend’s home in Pasadena.
Boyer’s grandmother, Fern, decided to stay back in Long Beach, where she was not in danger.
“She's there holding down the fort. She's a big bridge player, so she's playing bridge there,” Boyer said, cracking a laugh. “She didn't want to come out. She didn't want to miss the bridge game.”
Fern wants to visit Paris, so stay tuned for Roland Garros later in the year. At the rate her grandson is going, Boyer might be straight into the main draw at the clay-court major. The No. 111 player in the PIF ATP Live Rankings has enjoyed a rocket-like launch towards the top of the sport. Two years ago, he was unranked after suffering a bone edema in his foot.
But last year he tied the American record for most ATP Challenger Tour wins in a season with 44 (Kevin Kim). Boyer is not caught up in his success by any means, though.
The evening before the biggest match of his career, with AUD $200,000 at stake, he simply enjoyed a nice dinner, watched another former Stanford University student-athlete, Nishesh Basavareddy, win a set against Novak Djokovic, tuned into some Argentine tennis — coach Fabbri is Argentine and they train in the country — and played some video games.
When everyone else went to sleep, Boyer tackled Ghost of Tsushima on his Steam Deck, a handheld video game console. He played for 90 minutes before turning in for the evening.
Unfortunately, Boyer did not have his favourite new toy on hand. A family member recently bought him a small motor to clip onto paper airplanes. Boyer has had a blast using his phone to fly paper airplanes in parks through Melbourne. That came to an end Sunday evening.
“I lost the thing. I was flying it in the [players’] restaurant on the fourth floor. I had dinner Sunday night on the terrace upstairs. It was empty,” Boyer said. “I was here at 8:30 having dinner. It got stuck in the rafters where it says Rod Laver, so it's up there. We went downstairs and asked the concierge to try to get it down.”
And the ride is not over yet. Boyer will try to reach the third round of a major for the first time when he takes on Australian No. 1 Alex de Minaur Thursday afternoon inside Rod Laver Arena.
“I think [I will] just swing out and play, go for what I can. I'm obviously going to have to play well to win the match and just enjoy playing,” Boyer said. “I want to win as much as possible. We're going to plan it out for sure. We're really going to go for it, but obviously it's a really tough match, so I'm just going to swing away. If I'm going to lose, I'm going to lose playing tennis that I want to be playing, not doubting myself.”
Grandpa William will be in the stands to remind him of that.
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