How Khachanov became a second-week Grand Slam staple

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Karen Khachanov is not widely discussed as a Grand Slam contender. But over the past two seasons, the 27-year-old has quietly maneouvred deep into the majors more often than not. 

The five-time ATP Tour singles titlist has advanced to at least the quarter-finals in three of his past four Slams played and is one win away on Sunday at the Australian Open against Jannik Sinner from making it four from five.

“During my career, I always had some good results in the Grand Slams,” Khachanov told ATPTour.com. “I was going to the fourth round many times. I did quarters in Slams. But I think those kinds of, let's say, clicks that I'm talking about, happened at the US Open when I made the semi-finals.”

Khachanov was referring to a comment he made at Roland Garros last year when asked what had clicked for him at the majors. “My brain clicked,” he said, cracking a smile.

At the 2022 US Open, the former No. 8 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings advanced to his first major semi-final, defeating Nick Kyrgios in the last eight to do it. Kyrgios had upset top seed Daniil Medvedev in the previous round.

“I'm confident. I have my confidence inside myself. But I think once you show it with the results, that you go deeper than your prior results, that gives you a little extra,” Khachanov said. “And then your confidence is not based on the results, it's just inside you and you know what you are capable of doing. You know what you need to do to be there.”

Khachanov's longtime coach José Manuel Clavet, widely known as "Pepo", added: "I think he realised again that he's a player whose level can be a Top 10 player and that result showed him again what he was thinking.

"So his confidence again was really, really big. And when he is with confidence, with his game, he is a very dangerous player. Especially when he did it here just after the US Open in Australia, semi-finals again, that was again a very good result and his confidence was again even bigger and stronger than before. It was very important for his mind, for his game. He's not only one thing that you can say."

Since making the last four at the US Open, he reached the semi-final of the Australian Open four months later and then the Roland Garros quarter-finals. He lost in the first round of his next Slam, the US Open, but that was his first singles match back after struggling for months with two injuries. His semi-final breakthrough at Flushing Meadows proved a pivotal moment.

“Of course, technical and improvements that I've been doing with my team in terms of tennis, and physical [matter],” Khachanov said. “But at the same time, it's a big, big effort and big improvement on the mental side as well.”

There has never been a doubt that Khachanov has a big game. He competed in the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in 2017 and the following year claimed his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the Rolex Paris Masters. The following June, he cracked the Top 10.

Between his big serve and imposing power game from the baseline, Khachanov quickly proved a menace for all styles of opponent. But after reaching his first quarter-final at Roland Garros in 2019, Khachanov’s progress slowed. He entered the 2022 US Open outside the Top 30.

“In 2020 and 2021 until Wimbledon for one year, one year and a half, I was a little bit in the middle. I played third round, third round, fourth round in the Slams and some other tournaments, but I didn't have some bright results,” Khachanov said. “I think in this moment, it's not like I lost the confidence or faith in a way, but I was a little bit down, let's say. That's why I had to work through to find that determination, inspiration again, and to lift myself up.”

Khachanov was confident, but he was waiting for a big result to back it up. He pointed to some of the biggest champions of the sport, including Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, as examples of players who benefitted from the same principle. Djokovic was once Slam-less, chasing Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Now the Serbian owns 25 majors.

“You always believe, but you start to believe it more because you said ‘Okay, I did it once’. I think the same happens with every step in the tournament, or especially in the Grand Slam. And I know for example [players like] Novak, they are the legends, they've won so many Slams,” Khachanov said. “For sure, at one point, he won one. And then he felt, ‘Okay, I did it once, I want to do it twice’. The same thing happened with Carlos and he won Wimbledon. These kind of things, they are part of your journey, and I appreciate it a lot. This is what you have to go through. And you have to fight and earn it.”

Khachanov hit a road block at Roland Garros last year. After the event he did not touch a racquet for seven weeks while dealing with a fracture in his sacrum bone under the lower back and a fracture in his pubic bone.

But he quickly picked up steam upon his return with a title in Zhuhai and now is threatening another deep run at a major.

“To be honest, [I am] very happy, because my injury was complex. There were two injuries, actually,” Khachanov said. “To come back so quickly on a good level, feeling physically good, especially now playing Grand Slam best of five, I appreciate it a lot. I think the work that I've done with my team, that's also showing that we are in the right direction.”

According to Clavet, Khachanov knows what he is capable of. This Australian Open is another opportunity to prove it.

"He's in the group that can be in the Top 10. The goal is to be in the Top 10. He wants to be in the Top 10 and to be there and be one of the candidates for a Grand Slam title," Clavet said. "He knows it's difficult because everybody wants to do that. But he also is 100 per cent sure he can do it."