Niland hopes to fulfill a personal dream at US Open

LIMERICK’S Conor Niland will fulfill a personal dream next week should the Irish number one progress through three qualifying rounds and compete in the US Open at Flushing Meadows.
The 28-year-old Limerick man will fly to New York from his Dublin base on Thursday leaving Niland with a few days to practice and acclimatize to the humidity before participating in the first qualifying round on Tuesday, August 25.
Conor Niland, who has won four ITF Futures titles and one Challenger Tour event (New Delhi, 2008), can’t wait to get out there and participate in his third Grand Slam event this year.
“Playing at the US Open is definitely a big ambition of mine, it’s pretty appealing,” admitted an excited Conor Niland this week.
“I’m playing the game to be able to play in that kind of tournament. At the same time I’m not putting any pressure on myself. There’s no guarantee that if I play really well that I will get through qualifying. It’s going to be really tough out there.”
This year alone Niland has competed in Baton Rouge (Louisiana) and Yuba City (California), but the Limerick man has never played a tournament in New York.
Niland sealed his place in the qualifying rounds for the US Open when he picked up 13 world-ranking points by making the quarter-finals of a clay-court ATP Tour Challenger tournament in Saransk, Russia recently.
“It’s nice to be involved,” explained Conor Niland.
“I’ve not played in the US Open before and it’s also a big plus that qualifying for the tournament is on site.
“Qualifying for Wimbledon, for example, is held somewhere else, but for Australia, France and the US Open you’re right there and it’s a really nice atmosphere.”
Niland will face the US Open challenge in confident mood following a couple of notable performances during the Istanbul Challenger Tour event last week - in the first round Niland beat Eduoard Roger-Vasselin (ranked as high as 82 in July, 2007) before losing out to the highly-rated youngster Florian Mayer in the next round.
“I’m playing pretty well.
“I played two matches in Istanbul last week.
“I got through the first round and then took a set off a really good player so I’m happy with how things are going for me right now.”
Conor Niland has already taken part in the corresponding stage of the Australian Open and Wimbldeon this calendar year - when Niland competes at Flushing Meadows the outing will represent his fifth Grand Slam event in all.
Although neither of those tournaments worked out as Niland would have wished the Limerick man regards the US Open as his best chance to make it into the first round proper of a Grand Slam event.
“This (hard) is my best surface,” said Niland.
“I’ve always been at my best on fairly fast hard courts so this US Open definitely represents one of my better chances to get through the qualifying rounds and to play in a Grand Slam event. And, that’s what I’m focusing on.
“I’m really looking forward to the whole experience. It has been nice to have played in two of the three Grand Slam events this year and it’s especially nice to be looking forward to the US Open now.
“This time last year I was injured and I wasn’t playing at all. So, I’m going to enjoy the US Open and after that concentrate on forcing my way up the rankings. I’m feeling good, playing well and really looking forward to next week.”

Brian McDonnell