First-Tme Winner Spotlight: Marcos Giron

Marcos Giron claimed his first ATP Tour title on Sunday at the Infosys Hall of Fame Open, where he saved a championship point to defeat #NextGenATP Alex Michelsen in the final.

The 30-year-old American spoke to ATPTour.com about his journey to his first title, those who have helped him along the way, his relationship with Andre Agassi and more.

What are the emotions that you felt when you won championship point?
It's really special. For me this has been years of hard work, years of dedication and years of support from family, friends and coaches. And so I couldn't have done this without them. My childhood coach from when I was six or seven, Scott Christie, who believed in me from the beginning. My coach from when I was 16 to 22, I called him Frenchie, but [his name is] Amir Marandy. Max Tabatruong, who's traveled with me for quite some time on Tour. Nick Meister, who traveled with me a little bit a few years ago, and then he's joined me again on the grass. It's been really special.

And my family, all the support throughout the years, whether I've wanted to play or not, they've always been supportive. And so I think for me winning it is really special, because I feel like it's everybody's doing, and not just mine. But it's cool, it's pretty fun to go and win the last point of the tournament.

Nothing beats that first title feeling 🥰@TennisHalloFame | #InfosysHallOfFameOpen pic.twitter.com/DHtUS3iWdE

— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 21, 2024

Your mom used to toss you balls at the park when you were a little kid. What are your memories of that?
I can't say I would have thought that I would be doing this for a living [laughs]. But it's pretty funny. It's pretty funny how life goes. I was talking with one of my friends earlier this week about how you can go down crazy rabbit holes of all the different possibilities that have gone on through the world, different relationships that kind of came to be out of different interactions. It's all kind of led to this, which is really cool. It's really special to win of course. I'm 30 years old, turning 31 next week. Would I have liked to have won it maybe seven years ago? Probably. But I wouldn't change it. It's to my personality.

When I was 12 years old playing tennis, I never dreamed that I was going to be a Top 10 player in the world or a Top 50 player in the world or Top 100 player in the world. I never had that dream. But every level I've gotten to — 12s, 14s, 16s, 18s, college, I've always after leaving a court or when I'm on court, I'm like, ‘Hey, I have the game, I can actually beat the other guy’. And so I feel like it's been a massive progression.

Even when I got to school, my freshman year in college, I finished the year about 70. As I finished my third year, I won NCAAs. It's taken me some time, but I feel like my game keeps improving. I keep on moving up in the rankings overall, and so it's cool. It's my first time winning a title. Hopefully it's not my last time either. I'm going to be at a career high in the 30s and I want to keep moving forward. This sport is tough. If you don't keep improving, you move down.

Almost 10 years ago, you had two hip surgeries. How crazy is it to think about that now you're here?
What's actually kind of fitting is that when I won NCAAs in 2014, I got ITA Player of the Year and I accepted my award here in Newport, Rhode Island. I had never played the tournament until this year, 2024, which is kind of wild. So it's weird. It's weird to think about that. First time playing the tournament, first time winning a Tour event.

And most American guys have played it by now.
Most times I've been too tired after the whole European swing. And so it's amazing, better late than never!

After you went through the hip struggles, and you were a volunteer assistant at UCLA, and you pushed through that, and at 30 now you're playing the best you ever have, how much did you have to persevere to get through those tough moments and make it here?
It's crazy. There were a couple times that I didn't want to continue.

When I had the hip surgery, I was actually optimistic. But then after finishing the hip surgery and coming back, it still took me a bit of time to to improve, to kind of get through challenges. It took me four years after that to actually really break into the Top 100, and so it took a while...

It's crazy, but I feel like that's always a testament to who I am. I'm a hard worker and I persevere. I see things glass half full overall and I'm a pretty optimistic guy and I'm a high energy guy. I typically don't feel sorry for myself and I never like to feel sorry for myself. The only thing that you can really do is try and solve, find a solution and try and keep getting better. I think it's just really a testament to who I am as a person as well.

I don't think too many people knew about the Andre Agassi connection before this week. What are your memories of watching him growing up and this week, what was it like having him in the crowd for a match?
It's been such an amazing relationship for me, really. Growing up when I was young, I remember that my early first memories of tennis were really him and Pete Sampras playing in the 2002 US Open final. That was my first memory of watching tennis. And so it was amazing. And then my coach when I was younger said that you're going to serve like Pete and you're going to play from the baseline like Andre.

Time went on and he was an absolute idol of mine. He was absolutely one of my favourite players growing up. He's 5'10", 5'11", about the same size. Good off both wings, kind of hits pretty flat. So if there's somebody that I look up to and also kind of play similar to almost, it's him. You cannot compare careers by any means and so it's kind of a funny thing.

It was so crazy, fate, kind of random events that made it. I was practising with a junior, almost at the very end of Covid and Andre was there. And so we met there briefly. Again, this title is also so much thanks to him. He helped my game so much. He saw my game, he made me see my game in a whole new light and made me a way better player. More aggressive, but also overall, just seeing so many different ways to actually [see] the layers of the game, and how to really influence a match and the different ways there are to be the one controlling what's happening, and so he really changed my trajectory for sure.

If we didn't meet four years ago, I don't know if I've won a title or not. And so I would credit a lot to him as well with the help he's done to my game and his vision and the time and effort. But again, he's a super busy guy. He's got so much going on. And honestly, we've been in touch quite a bit. I was always looking at it like, if he could be there, that would be amazing. But also realistically, who knows when that's actually going to work with the schedules. I'm traveling all the time. He has so many things, his foundation.

He messaged me day of [the match he watched in Newport] saying, 'Hey dude, any chance you have an extra seat in the box today?' I couldn't believe it. I was so hyped and I came out absolutely juiced and so it's amazing. First tournament he's sitting there at the match and I won the tournament, so it's pretty cool. It's pretty special. And it's so special for me to have that relationship.

You used to play video games a lot, but not as much lately. What are your hobbies these days?
It kind of depends on where I'm at. When I'm back home, I always go to the beach. I play Spikeball, beach tennis, go [to the beach]. It depends, sometimes I like to go for some fun drives. I like to play board games with friends and family. I love to go hiking when possible.

I grew up skiing. I can't really do that much anymore, even though I've got some legs to do it [laughs]! I don't want to to pop the ACL! I don't know, I just like being in nature and just being around people and having fun.