U.S. tennis player Zachary Svajda sets Grand Slam milestone on late father’s birthday
PARIS — Saturday morning at the French Open, Zachary Svajda spent three hours and three minutes serving, sliding and scrambling across the red clay of Roland Garros. The 23-year-old American, who is world No. 85, went up two sets to love on his least-favorite tennis surface against No. 26 Francisco Cerúndolo, a clay-court specialist suddenly blessed with an opportunity to go deep, after Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner both went out early.
Cerúndolo reeled in Svajda, but the American, cramping in the middle part of the match, was not to be denied. And after a 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 win that saw him into the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time, he said what he had been thinking about not just for those three hours and three minutes, but all day.
“Today was so special, too, because it’s also my dad’s birthday. I know he’s watching from above. It just makes it so special,” Svajda said in a news conference.
His father, Tom, who was a tennis coach in Pacific Beach, San Diego, where Svajda grew up, was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer in October 2024. A year later, he died aged 60, just over a month after his son took a set off 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic at the U.S. Open.
After taking a month away from the tour, Svajda’s biggest comeback tournament was the Australian Open, but a recent event meant more to him. In February 2026, he played his hometown tournament, the ATP San Diego Challenger. He won the title.
“I remember when I won my semi-final match and moved on to the final, I was talking to myself in my head, ‘I wish dad was here,’” Svajda told the ATP Tour. “I also thought about that while holding up the trophy or hitting an ace on match point.”
Svajda, a hard-court kid with Czech heritage, said he had never played on red clay until he was 21, and guessed that he had played between 10 and 15 matches on the surface in his career. The number at full ATP Tour and Grand Slam level is six, three of them in the past week. Ahead of their meeting, Cerúndolo had played 154.
But expectation does funny things. Svajda embraced having none.
“When I saw Sinner was out, I tried to stay present and stay positive and just take it day by day, match by match. I knew the draw was open, but I just tried to keep doing my routines, keep doing what I’ve been doing, and just see what happens,” he said.
“We all talk in the locker room just about the results.”
Cerúndolo, in a world of opportunity, got lost. During bouts of shouting at his box and tight groundstrokes, Svajda stayed steady and stopped Cerúndolo’s momentum, breaking him at the first time of asking in the fifth set, and again, immediately, when Cerúndolo fought back.
When it was over, staying steady was not an option.
“The emotions were insane. … That match point, when I fell to the ground, it was just so special.
“The atmosphere was great out there throughout the whole five sets. Everyone stayed, and I had a good fan support out there. It was a really special moment, special match.
“Like I said, it’s my dad’s birthday today. I was thinking about that too. I was nervous. I really want to — I know he’s proud of me, and I want to perform well and win. When I got that match, the last point, I just teared up, fell to the ground like: ‘Oh, my gosh, what is happening?’”