Filip Krajinovic has been a true journeyman on the ATP Tour, and has fought every step of the way to finally earn a seed at a Grand Slam and a top 30 world ranking. After fighting back throughout an injury-plagued career, the Serbian finally looks to have reached his potential at age 28, and is a dangerous opponent to anyone in the field in New York.
Early Career
Krajinovic looked poised for success after turning pro in 2008 at age 16 following a successful junior career. He broke into the top 200 for the first time in 2010 following his first Challenger Tour final and a run to the semifinals at the Serbian Open. A shoulder injury and eventual surgery stopped his rise in 2011, as he missed most of the season. After dropping out of the top 1000, Krajinovic battled through the ranks of Futures and Challengers over the next several years, culminating in a main draw appearance at the US Open–just his second career main draw in a Grand Slam–and an eventual year-end ranking of world #101.
2015 seemed to be a breakthrough year for Krajinovic. His improved ranking allowed him to enter all four Grand Slams and two Masters 1000 events. However, he only won four main draw matches all season while splitting time between ATP and Challenger Tour events, and finished the year with the same ranking. He dealt with an elbow injury for parts of 2016, eventually shutting down his season early and seeing his ranking drop all the way to #237. 2017 was a breakout year for the Serbian, winning five Challenger title–all on clay courts. He then played his first Masters event in a year and a half and reached the final in Paris. That made him lowest ranked player to make a Masters final since 2012. This highlighted an excellent season and earned him a well-deserved year-end rank of #33. 2018 started strong, with 3rd and 4th round appearances at Indian Wells and Miami, respectively. Unfortunately, another series of injuries limited his schedule and he again fell in the ranks to #95 at year’s end.
2019 was a massive year for Krajinovic. He won 31 matches after only 35 career match wins entering the year, and reached his second and third career ATP finals. For just the second year in the career he played in all four Grand Slams, reaching the third round twice, a feat he had not achieved before that year. He had another strong pair of performances in Indian Wells and Miami. Maybe most significantly, Krajinovic showed that he was a serious threat to some of the world’s top players. In the first half of 2019 alone, Krajinovic defeated Marco Cecchinato, David Goffin, Daniil Medvedev, and Stan Wawrinka. He headed into 2020 at world #40 with a new level of confidence after finally having a full season with positive results throughout.
2020 Form
2020 started fairly strong for Krajinovic, losing to Roger Federer in the second round at the Australian Open, then reaching consecutive semifinals in Montpelier and Rotterdam. He defeated Andrey Rublev in Rotterdam for another marquee win, after the Russian won two ATP titles in the previous month. Krajinovic could not ride his momentum due to the COVID-19 break, but did score exhibition wins over Borna Coric and countryman and world #1 Novak Djokovic. Krajinovic came out strong in the return to tennis at the Western & Southern Open, beating Australian Open finalist Dominic Thiem in the second round and eventually making the quarterfinals. He lost to eventual finalist Milos Raonic in a tight three-set match where he held a match point. He has continued to play well this week at the same courts for the US Open, winning both his matches very comfortably in straight sets.
Filip Krajinovic vs David Goffin Preview
Krajinovic and Goffin have played a total of four times, but just two of those meetings have come since 2015. Both recent meetings came in 2019 on hard courts, and Krajinovic won both in straight sets. Goffin was the higher ranked player in both matches as he is here, but Krajinovic strong backhand and groundstrokes helped him win a few more of the big points and force Goffin into errors. Goffin does have an advantage, being the substantially more experienced player in Grand Slams. This match could truly go either way, but Krajinovic should have the slight advantage with his current form, past head-to-head meetings, and Krajinovic’s strong history in big matches compared to Goffins poor record against top players. This match is sure to be competitive, very likely going four if not five sets, with Krajinovic edging it out in the end. Regardless, fans should tune in for an exciting match and appreciate the long road Filip Krajinovic took to get here and potentially make the most of his new status as an outside contender at a grand slam.
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