Prior to the start of the BNP Paribas Open Nikoloz Basilashvili had never progressed beyond the fourth round of a Masters 1000 tournament in 32 attempts.
However, in the Californian desert the Georgian has enjoyed a fairytale run to the final with wins over Karen Khachanov followed by a shock victory against second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. In his latest match, Basilashvili took on home favourite Taylor Fritz, whom he ousted 7-6(5), 6-3, in what was a relatively close encounter. The world No.36 failed to convert set points whilst leading 5-4 and 6-5 in the opening set before prevailing in the tiebreaker. Then in the second frame it was a single break in his favour which guided him to the finish line.
“I’m really happy. I think I played pretty good tennis. In my opinion, Taylor made me play a lot of balls. I had to actually play very good tennis from the baseline to beat him,” said Basilashvili who hit a total of 26 winners during the match.
The 29-year-old has been ranked as high as 16th in the world back in 2019 but has since fallen down to a current position of 36th. This season he has already won two ATP 250 titles in Doha and Munich. It was in Doha where he defeated Roger Federer, who was playing his first match following an injury break.
Despite those successes, Indian Wells is Basilashvili’s biggest achievement to date. Ironically, he had never won a main draw match at the tournament until this year. Now he is a win away from becoming the first player from his country to claim a Masters 1000 title.
“I’m super happy I can achieve something like this, especially (from) a country like Georgia, a very small country. Tennis is not that popular. I made my way. I passed really tough roads to get to here, so it means a lot,” he reflected.
Basilashvili says he had to work hard to get where he is now due to where he came from. Working his way up through the lower level tournaments without a sponsor or wildcard’s to back him up. He didn’t break into the world’s top 100 until the age of 23 and he won his first Tour title at 26. Basilashvili has also scored six wins over top 10 players in his career but 2021 is the first season where he has managed to record multiple wins.
“I made my way, I passed very difficult times. I had to gain a lot of experience from playing futures, then playing challengers, move on from challengers and then to ATP tournaments,” he said.
“I knew I would never play really good tennis at a young age because I needed this experience. I never had an opportunity to get wild cards. I did not have any support from my country because obviously tennis is not popular there.’
“As well as the financial side, I never had a kind of sponsor. I knew I had to pass those roads to get to here match by match gaining experience as well as playing quarterfinals, semifinals. This is all experience.’
“I’m happy where I am right now. I am calculating how I’m playing. I calculated that I could play good tennis late in my career, at a late age.”
Standing in the way of his first Masters 1000 title will be Cameron Norrie who is also through to the biggest final of his career to date and will pose a stern challenge. The Brit has already played five Tour finals this year, winning his first title in Mexico. Norrie defeated Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-4, in his semi-final match.
“He’s playing very good at this tournament. He had previously had really good weeks. I will learn him (his match) today, and come up with a plan for tomorrow,” Basilashvili said of his upcoming opponent.
“But overall he’s not so nice to play against from the baseline. He’s been playing really, really smart and very good tennis. I’m looking forward to it. If I can play my game and be relaxed, I think I can play well.”
The winner of Sunday’s final will be the first man ranked outside of the world’s top 25 to do so since Ivan Ljubicic in 2010.
