"Completely different" says Karatsev on grass courts

Aslan Karatsev arrived in London without any grass-court matches on tour level and after losing the opening set, he rallied to win it in three.

Aslan Karatsev has been one of the most fascinating stories in 2021 as he reached the Australian Open semifinal from the qualifiers. The Russian has since continued racking up solid results continuing his rise on the ATP rankings currently sitting at 24.

His first match on grass came against a clay specialist Alejandro Tabilo and he struggled at first. After losing the opening set 3-6 he rallied to win the next two 6-4 6-2. After the match, he said:

"[It's] completely different than the other surfaces. It was the first match, a tough opponent, lefty. I got used to it and in the end, I found the way to manage it."

Karatsev took some time to adjust but once he did he did not have any issues. The 2nd set was tricky in his own admission but once he started reading the serve better it was fairly straightforward. He said:

"The second set was a bit tricky. I broke him, and then in the third set he started really slowly. I got used to his serve and I returned everything that I could. It was easier for me [from there]."