Contrary to his dream run last year when he raised eyebrows by breezing through his first three games, Barbadian Darian King has crashed out of the US Open 2018 Tennis Championships.
King, the only Barbados professional and the island’s leading player, exited the US Open First Round Qualifiers when he went down 5-7, 6-4, 3-6 to the Austrian, Gerald Melzer, on Court 8 of the Louis Armstrong Stadium last week.
The dismal departure of the highest international ranked Barbadian stands in stark contrast to his performance last year when he fed the hopes of his nation by cruising past his first three opponents in three consecutive days, before eventually falling.
“It’s very tough for me right now. I mean right up to the end of the match and right afterwards I still couldn’t believe that I lost it,” King said to the Barbados Nation newspaper.
“I’m taking it very hard because this is my favourite tournament of all and I essentially prepare all year to make a run here because of the fans and my history at the US Open but I guess that’s just how tennis goes sometimes.”
In spite of the defeat the 26-year-old professional noted that the tennis tour year still has some way to go and he vowed to improve on mistakes to raise his current ranking that now stands at 169 on the ATP chart.
“From here I have a couple ATP challengers to play and of course there’s Davis Cup back home and hopefully I can push through them and get some great results to end the season on a high,” he said.
King has a career high ATP singles ranking of world 106 achieved on May 8, 2017 and career high ATP doubles ranking of No. 236 achieved on Aug. 28, 2017.
